CODENAME: Talon Flames of Darkness
by Silentshadow011
Summary: A lone Combusken wanders the Sinnoh region. After the loss of everything and everyone he held dear, will he meet his own demise in a region that seems to want him dead? And just who or what is the enity that dwells within him? When given a chance at true happiness, will he take it, decline to prevent a similar tragedy, or just betray everything the way it betrayed him?
1. Chapter 1

**Beginning or an End**

"**Now hush little baby, don't you cry**

**I promise everything is going to be alright**

**Don't be scared by the sounds of the night**

**I'll ways protect you and that's no lie**"

**(3rd person pov)**

The sun began to rise on the sinnoh region as three Staravia flew over the land, in search of their target.

**(Staravias' pov)**

"I can't wait to get my talons on that blasted Combusken!" yelled one Staravia

"Me too, he really screwed us over." Said a second

"I have to admit, he was very cunning. First he steals a Protector from a group of Rhyperior, and then he tricked us into trading some of our food for that Protector." Said the third.

"The Rhyperior then found us holding the protector and attacked us! Luckily, they left us alone when we threw it at them as we flew off." The second replied.

"I think I see him in that clearing!" Exclaimed the first.

**(Combusken's pov)**

I woke up suddenly, when my sixth sense alerted me that I was being targeted. Ever since I went off on my own, it saved my butt more times then I could count. This time should be no different. I looked up to see what had set it off, three enraged Staravia were about to dive bomb me.

**(3rd person pov)**

The birds attempted to attack the Combusken. He disappeared, then instantly reappeared behind them using his quick attack. The birds suddenly realized that this young fowl would be more of a challenge then they were expecting. The birds stopped short of hitting the ground, and whispered something as they came to a plan.

Two of the Staravia flew at the Combusken with wing attacks. The Combusken just stood his ground while using bulk-up, waiting for the right time to use his double kick. His sixth sense tingled and in response, turned around only to be hit with a quick attack by the third Staravia. The hit knocked him backwards to be hit with the super effective wing attacks. He fell on his right knee and used bulk-up once more.

"That's what you get for messin with us!" one of the birds arrogantly yelled.

"Want more?" another boasted.

The Combusken just glared in disgust as he wondered what to do next. He stood up and the Staravia flew right at him. They used the same formation and this time the Combusken used quick attack to jump over the two, but in doing so his sixth sense triggered and as he looked down the third Staravia used wing attack on his legs. Combusken landed on the palms of his wings and leaned forward, landing on his feet. Luckily bulk-up suppressed the damage, but the combined damages from this battle was slowing taking its toll on him

"What do I have to do?" he wondered to himself. **Analyze, Understand, Anticipate, Counter**. As these words came to him, he had a flashback of when he was training with his mentor as a Torchic.

**-Flashback-**

"Darn it Bruce, it's not fair! You're bigger then me. I'll never be able to take that berry off your hand!" Torchic complained.

"Not with that attitude, besides this isn't about strength or speed, it's about problem solving." Explained Bruce

"Huh" the Torchic replied.

"In life there will be situations when your strengths won't be enough. You'll need to be able to come up with a quick strategy." Bruce explained.

Bruce saw that the Torchic was getting confused.

"In other words, Instead of overpowering, try to out think your enemy." He continued

The Torchic tilted his head and responded, "Bruce… I have to say… I … have no idea what you're talking about."

The Machoke faced the floor and sighed.

With a twinkle in his eye, Torchic hit the bottom of Bruce's hand and quickly snatched the berry in his beak and gleefully ate it.

"Not really what I had in mind, but it got the job done." Bruce stressed. "You did _analyze_ that my guard was down, you _understood_ that I wouldn't react fast enough, you also did _anticipate_ I would get distracted by your remark. Finally you used deception to _counter_ my focus. Analyze, understand, anticipate, and counter. You did all four, good job. One more thing, I thought you might pull something like this so I used a spicy figy berry!" said the Machoke.

Torchic then ran around the now laughing Machoke.

"Oh no! I can't believe how sweet this berry is!"

The Machoke was now dumbfounded by the Torchic's remark. Bruce had to admit defeat when Torchic held out the figy berry and stated, "I knew something was odd about that berry. When you were focused with that berry flying in the air, I put a mago berry in my mouth. You thought you saw me catch that figy in my beak, but really I let it fall on my wing from the side of my body that you couldn't see. I knew that I had fooled you when I saw your confused face! Luckily I just happened to have stopped for a mago berry snack on the way here. So have I mastered strafiee?"

"Strategy Torchic, strategy and yes you have." The Machoke praised with a smile.

**-Present-**

Combusken returned from his trip down memory lane and knew how to take down these birds he was facing. He knew that what the two Staravia do is just a bluff or a distraction, the third Staravia is the prime attacker. Also the third only attacks as soon as Combusken attacks. If he wants to counter the Staravia's attack plan, he would have to lure the attacker away from his partners.

The Staravia than changed their tactics. All three flew in close and started flying in a circle around the Combusken keeping him surrounded. Just as he was about to attack the birds, they used quick attack to fly faster around the Combusken and make their circle of flight smaller. The sixth sense warned that something wasn't right.

The Combusken then, charged forward with a quick attack. As he expected, a Staravia triggered Combusken's sixth sense from behind. Combusken then leaned back doing a summersault causing him to successfully land a double kick on the sneaky Staravia. The kick sent the bird flying into a nearby tree. The Staravia tried to get back up but an apple fell right on the bird's head knocking him out cold.

"The concern for their friend will be their down fall." The Combusken thought to himself. As the Staravia turned their attention towards the fallen bird, the Combusken took advantage. He used quick attack on a Staravia. Just as the bird was knocked away, the Combusken turned to the last Staravia and attacked it with another quick attack. It went crashing under the same tree as the first double kicked Staravia. The Combusken made his way towards the two birds, however the third Staravia still had some fight left in him.

The weakened Staravia was terrified as he saw the Combusken making his way towards his friends. Out of desperation, the Staravia ignored his pain and blasted forward with a quick attack. The Combusken knew he was about to get hit, but couldn't avoid it. Barely any time to react, he used bulk-up just in the nick of time. The persistent Staravia stood between his friends and his enemy. Both, Staravia and Combusken stared into one another's eyes, wondering what drives the other to do what they have done till now.

"What the heck is wrong with you!" yelled the Staravia.

"You tricked us out of some food, practically leave us to be blamed for your actions and now you're going to attack my friends when they can't even defend themselves?!"

"Well, to be fair, you and your friends tried to attack me in my sleep and fight me in an unfair 3 on 1 beat do-"ENOUGH" the Staravia interrupted.

"Prideful son of a" thought the Combusken.

"This isn't a food fight anymore!"

"Food fight?" the Combusken asked in an amused tone.

"You know what I meant!" barked the Staravia.

"I'm not going to let you hurt them, not when they can't defend themselves! AAAHH!"

That wasn't the first time this Combusken has seen those kinds of eyes, the eyes of someone who wants to protect something that means a great deal to oneself.

At that moment the Staravia began to glow. The Combusken's sixth sense started to tingle, at this he used bulk-up one final time. The Staravia then began to evolve into a staraptor. In a flash, both Pokémon charged at one another with their own quick attacks. However, the Combusken changed his attack at the last second. He hopped slightly and lifted his legs mid-air to land a double kick, drop kick style square on the staraptor's face knocking him out.

**(Combusken's pov**)

I picked up the defeated staraptor and placed him next to his friends. Poor birds, they had every right to attack me and still lost. I can't say I blame them for trying to get revenge though; I would have done the same thing. Still they did put up a good fight and their teamwork was impressive. I hope that what

I'm about to do, doesn't come back to haunt me.

**(The staraptor's pov)**

I don't know how long we've been out. When I came to, I discovered something under my wing. My friends also found the same round object under their wings when they woke up. They were Oran berries. There was one for each of us. I found a note attached to the tree we were under. As I got up, I began to read it aloud. It read:

"To the two Staravia and staraptor,

Sorry about how things turned out. I know that this doesn't really make up 4 what I've done, but it's all I can offer right now. The 3 Oran berries are for each of you. They are my last supplies, they are 4 any injuries you or your friends may have sustained. I hope you 3 can forgive me. Maybe if we ever meet again I'll be able to make it up to you 3 if I can. Again, I am sorry for screwing you over and there is no excuse for the con I pulled on you and your friends. Well at least one of you got to evolve.

Sincerely, the Combusken you fought."

After reading that, my friends and I ate the Oran berries and took a vote.

"You guys think we should forgive him?" I asked my friends

"I don't think we have much of a choice, we tried to fight him on a 3 on 1 and lost, you even evolved and still he won. But at least he did give us these berries for recovery and on top of that, still had the courtesy to leave some form of apology." My friend said, and I had to admit he had some good points. So long as I never have to see that Combusken again, I guess I could forgive him. We all agreed to that.

**(Combusken's pov)**

It was still the middle of the day and I found myself walking around a rocky mountain. It is amazing where you can end up when you go about aimlessly. Despite me not having a clear destination, there is still one area that I try to avoid.

I pulled out my map of the region and apparently, I was near stark mountain. I preferred to be near MT coronet. Though I would have to cross a large body of water just to get to it, but at least I wouldn't have to worry about accidentally returning to that area I wanted to stay clear of if I was there. Too many bad memories made me almost hate the place I was trying to avoid. If that wasn't bad enough, that area always gave me the impression that it was cursed, because bad luck always seems to strike those who enter it.

As I remembered the area, it some how made me remember those birds from earlier, specifically the one that evolved into a staraptor. His eyes, they were similar to Jimmy's eyes before he passed away in a cave-in.

**-Flashback-**

His family and mine were supposed to have a picnic on the other side of a cave. We always had picnics almost every weekend. The other side of the cave had a secret oasis which was hidden by its natural maze. Getting to it was very inconvenient, but the trip wasn't that far and it was worth the trip. It was beautiful and private so no one bothered our two families. After eating we would always play games in that paradise. No matter what mood we were in, every time we left the oasis, we always left as one big happy family, despite his family being the Sinnoh's Empoleon species and mine the Hoenn's Blaziken species.

On the last trip our two families took, disaster struck. While in the cave's maze, something happened to make the cave unstable. When an onix burrowed through the cave, it shook the walls enough to trigger a cave-in. we all turned and ran for the exit. As we ran Jimmy, my piplup friend, got separated from his mother and father along with me.

It was like something out of a nightmare, everything was rumbling it was dark, and all the while large rocks were falling. Jimmy and I were desperately trying to find a way out. Jimmy was swiping away at the rocks in our way with his steel wing attack his father taught him and I kept firing off some ember attacks to light the way. They almost seemed like a waste of time, his steel wing attacks couldn't break through rocks bigger then the size of our heads, and my ember could only light about 5 feet ahead.

We kept running and running, trying to find an exit that may not even be there. The rocks continued to fall and threaten our lives. We turned to the left as a large boulder nearly crushed us it made a rumbling that nearly tripped us. Still we kept on running. Suddenly the floor behind us began to crumble away almost swallowing jimmy and me. Another large boulder almost crushed us as it fell, but we couldn't turn to a new tunnel. This rock however was oddly flat enough to climb over; we instinctively climbed it to find another tunnel to run through. Jimmy's wings were getting tired from al those steel wing attacks that I had to help him up. We ran as far as we could. The rocks still fell and we could feel the cave collapsing far behind us. As we ran through this tunnel the floor crumbled, and we fell down in to yet another tunnel.

Not sure how, but we finally found an exit. Finding the exit felt more like a spit on the face because the cave was collapsing faster then we could run. We both knew we couldn't make it out. So I yelled out, "We're not going to make it!" "Yes you will" I quickly turned my head to face Jimmy. He had those eyes that the staraptor had, a look of determination, selflessness, and an undying will to defy the odds.

At first it reassured me, but as I realized what he was planning I was horrified. "NO! DON'T DO-" before I could finish my sentence, he shot a water gun blast at me that sent me flying out of the cave just as it collapsed, crushing every thing inside. I yelled "**JIMMY**" at the top of my lungs, wishing that none of this were real.

Hearing my yell, Jimmy's family came rushing, along with my family. Both of whom realized what had happened. Jimmy's father as stubborn as ever, tried to rescue his son with tears in his eyes he smashed into the rocks with his steel wing attack. He got to through a few rocks before his wings began to bleed from the impacts from the rocks he was trying to break through. At one point my mother tried to stop him, but my father placed a hand on her shoulder and shook his head at her to stop her.

At that time I couldn't understand the reality of the situation or what death was.

"Mommy why isn't jimmy coming out? Why is he still under the rocks? Isn't it heavy under there? Mommy?" in a way I already knew why but, I wanted her to prove me wrong. I unknowingly made everyone cry even me. Jimmy's father sobbed harder still trying to save his son though everyone knew it was useless except for me. I was still thinking that jimmy would pop out and say that he was okay or something.

When my father explained what happened to jimmy, I… I… I called him a monster believing that he was lying to me and ran to the spot were I first met jimmy and cried. Mary heard me and asked me what was wrong. I then tried to explain what had happen to jimmy, she seemed to understand and she hugged me to try to calm me down and her warmth did help me feel better. She was always more of an older sister to me then a friend and I liked that about her.

**-Present-**

Back in reality I continued moving forward, which I then regretted. As I walked, I saw two golem and a geodude playing together. Why does faith always have to remind me of everything I've lost? A mother and father, playing with their kid. The sight of them was like a slap to the face. Because it drove home the fact that I was utterly alone in this world. I almost wanted to cry just from seeing them happily playing together without a care in the world.

Everyone who ever cared about me, everyone who disliked me, everyone I had called friend, and my family; they were all ripped away from my and there was nothing I could of done to stop it. I know that I have been taught that in this world, it's a survival of the fittest, eat or be eaten. Although that concept has been proven to me time after time, I still couldn't accept it as the way of the world.

**(3rd person pov)**

While the Combusken was lost in thought, the father golem believed the Combusken to be a threat. The golem then shot a stone edge at the Combusken.

**(Combusken's pov)**

My sixth sense barely alerted me to the stone edge. It was too close for me to avoid. I used bulk up to reduce the damage, but the stone edge was still able to push me off the cliff of the stark mountain.

The fear I had rolling down that steep cliff rivaled what Jimmy and I felt in the cave. This time I had no one to save me. With every spin, things got more and more painful as I felt the rocks from the mountain dig into me. Try as I might, I was helpless to save myself I couldn't do anything. I didn't really have a reason for living any more after I lost everything and yet… I didn't want to die.

**(3rd person pov)**

Something inside of the Combusken took over, but the Combusken was unaware of his actions as long as the entity was in control. The entity then used his right wing to punch the side of the mountain. That stopped the rolling and contact from the mountain but he was still falling. The entity used a large stone, the size of a small car that was sticking out of the wall as a stepping stone and jumped off of it. However that loosened it enough to cause it to fall down moments after him. The entity landed on the soft sand below and noticed the large rock falling right on top of him. The entity just stood there, waiting. Then, it shot a wicked punch at the large falling rock, shattering it like glass. The entity then, receded and one of the stone edge rocks fell on his left wing, causing the Combusken to fall on his back as he regained his awareness.

**(Combusken's pov)**

I don't know if faith was spiting on me or pitying me when I landed on some soft sand. OW! DARN IT! I was pretty sure it was mocking me as I discovered my left wing was bruised. Other then that and some sores and minor scrapes, I was alright.

I looked around and saw that I was in a desert like area. Great. Worst part is it seemed like I was being forced to go forward. Cliffs to my left, cliffs to the right, and a dead end behind me forward it is then.

Before I started walking towards the desert, my mentor once warned me about deserts. He said that all living things need water to stay alive. Just because some can go longer then others without it doesn't mean they won't eventually succumb to thirst. Bruce also said that you must be very careful not to fall asleep in it, even if you have been properly hydrated. Sleeping is a huge risk especially during the day.

When I asked him why he looked me square in the eye and answered," If you do, you will never open your eyes again." His response sent shivers down my spine.

It just hit me that I haven't had anything to drink since last night. I pulled out my map, but with no land marks to reference, I couldn't tell where exactly I was. The cliffs were too difficult to climb I blamed my injured left wing. Either way I looked at it the only way out was through the desert. I started walking.

The bright sunlight and the hot desert made me feel so energized like I had an energy drink and followed it up with ether a candy bar or a sugar cookie. I felt on top of the world just walking in there, but I didn't get far before this burning desert started to mess with me. I felt light headed, thirsty and my legs felt weak. Those birds from early this morning, I shouldn't have showed remorse I should have kept my stuff. I should have left them under the tree. Now my pity on them was going to get me killed, and my loneliness kept me from avoiding this altogether. I wondered why I still hung on to my morals and emotions.

I looked up at the sky and thought I saw those two Staravia and staraptor flying in a circle over what seemed to be a berry tree. Wait, was it an oasis? What is it doing in this desert? Never mind that now I just needed some water, guess I should trust good intentions more often, those birds are saving me after all. Using what little energy I had left I ran to the oasis hopped on a rock and leaped into the water. The splash wasn't as refreshing as I wanted it to be because instead of water, I belly flapped on hot desert sand.

Stupid mirage. I sat up coughing out sand and was getting desperate for water. How ironic for a fire type to actually want water, though I needed it for survival. Barely able to stand, I could feel myself slowly dying of thirst. The inside of my beak was dry and slightly sticky from the drying saliva and I could still feel some sand, but I didn't want to spit it out because I wanted to keep what little fluid I still had left.

I tried to keep walking, but kept falling on my knees. Every fiber of my being was yelling at me to keep going, however it seemed like every part of me was just getting heavier and heavier with every step I took. Things got blurry and slowly getting dark as I fell for last time. I saw something coming towards me. I tried to craw away and hide somewhere but everything felt too heavy to move. Whatever it was, it seemed to be about my size and red in color and it walked on two legs. The last thing I noticed was that it had a fire at the tip of its tail before my eyes closed shut.

**I dont own pokemon this is just a fan fiction. **

**Anyways what do you think should i keep this story going? because it seems like a bad way for a Combusken to go. leave a review and let me know i want to hear your thoughts.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Opportunities **

"**There's nothing in this world we can't overcome,**

**Dry your tears and don't be glum**."

**(Combusken's pov)**

I opened my eyes, felt a little dizzy.

"Where… where… am… I…?" I said to myself.

*Water drop*

"What… is this place?"

*Water drop*

I stood up. All I could see was dark emptiness all around. I seemed to be under a spotlight. I had no idea where I was or what I was standing on. There was the sound of water drops echoing from everywhere but the ground felt dry.

I light appeared in front of me, but it didn't look like it was close by. It was about the size of a sitrus berry. The light got bigger with every step I took towards it. Soft and familiar voices began to fill this empty place, they sounded like little whispers right in your ear that you can't even tell where they are coming from. I couldn't understand what they were saying, so many voices talking over one another. There was one phrase that I could barely understand from the low banter.

"He's here"

I then heard a low rumbling coming from some where nearby for a quick second and then foot steps began to follow behind me along with what sounded like iron chains rattling around. I turned around and couldn't see anything, but I could just barely hear what sounded like heavy breathing. The foot steps and iron chain rattling stopped as soon as I did, but the voices continued. I got a cold sweat as I thought I could feel demonic eyes staring back at me from the black emptiness.

I turned to face the light and walked faster. The foot steps and chain rattling followed behind again. I walked even faster, they did too. Shivers ran down my spine as the voices, foot steps, and rattling got louder the closer I got to the light. I could feel an ominous sensation like if I stopped, whatever was following me, wouldn't hesitate to tear me to pieces.

I started to run and tried to shoot any kind of fire to light this darkness, but noting happened. What happened to my fire attack? Frantically, I ran as fast as my legs would take me. The rattling and footsteps still followed right behind matching my speed.

I finally reached the source of the light. The voices stopped. It seemed to be a portal to a grassy plain. Anything was better than here, just as I wanted to dive into the portal it backed away and stopped like it didn't want me anywhere near it. I heard a smog snickering. I kept on running to it. I got close and it was like the floor stretched to keep me away from the portal. The footsteps, and rattling continued on pursuing me. I heard the same snickering. I got closer once again only to have it back way, but this time it seemed to have come to a rest on an alter of some kind that was surrounded by black candles with red stripes that give off a purple colored light. It didn't move when I closed in this time, so I dove in. I heard an agitated sigh. Just before entering, I looked back to find something long, dark, spiny and with chrome colored edges try to wrap around my right leg to pull me back in, I was barley able to kick it away with my left leg. I shuddered at the sight of it slithering back into the portal.

I made it to the other side panting and shaking, but the dark emptiness just floated there like a spinarak siting on its web. I stopped to rest and get a good view of this place. I then noticed that my bag that I use to carry my stuff was gone. These plains were very familiar, I've been here before. I looked behind the portal and found my old village, the place I once called my home. It looked completely restored from the ruins that they once were. The voices came back.

I thought they were coming from the portal so I ran to the village. The voices however became louder and clearer.

"In the village. We're waiting for you. Please come."

I just escaped a dark and threating place, I thought **it **was the source of the voices. Now I'm being beckoned to a village that's supposed to have been destroyed, which was the actual source of the voices, I thought I was crazy to go in. but where else am I to go? I needed answers.

As I made my way to the village a silhouette appeared. I must really be lonely to believe who it was or maybe I'm just slowly going insane. Another silhouette stood next to the first, then a third but it was taller than the first two and behind it, a large group followed.

I froze. I knew who they were, I just couldn't believe that I would be able to see them again. I started to run to them genially happy as tears ran down my face. The light changed and I could see them clearly, confirming what I already knew.

Jimmy, Mary, my Mother and almost everyone else I knew. They were standing with smiles on their faces, happy to see me again since the day of the tragedy. It all seemed too good to be true.

They were standing behind the gates of the village and I was in front of the gates. Something unexpected happened the moment we tried to embrace. As we tried to embrace, a membrane of some kind wouldn't let me though the gate's entrance. It pushed me back outside the village. Everyone's happy face melted away in disappointment.

My mother came to the front and tried to explain.

"Son, I guess it's not yet time for you to join us. If it were, the barrier would have allowed you to pass through and the portal would have disappeared as soon as you entered."

"How do you know that mama?" I asked

"I have been through this situation before, but it was long time ago. Talon, you are still alive. You haven't yet fulfilled your destiny it seems. There is still something you have to do in the living world before you're permitted to be with us." she responded.

"What am I suppose to do then?" I asked

"I don't know, I'm not even allowed to tell you if I did know" my mother said.

" Why can't you tell me?" I asked.

"There are rules that everyone must follow and that is one of them." I sighted in disappointment.

"What I know I can tell you is, that it's connected to the earthquake that destroyed our village. By the way please don't be disappointed if you find out that the truth can be uglier and harsher than a lie." She said like she was hinting at something.

"What do you-"

Suddenly everyone felt a tremor.

"What's going on?" I asked

"You're starting to regain consciousness Talon, you have to go back to where you woke up. If you don't, you won't remember anything that happened here." she said

"I have to go back into that dark place?"

"Yes" she answered and I shuttered.

"Ok, but I will be back one day I promise!" I said as I turned and ran towards the portal.

"No! Promise to live a full life first" Mother shouted behind me. I turned and nodded to her, just before jumping into the portal.

The tremors stopped as I entered. The portal closed and disappeared as I came in. I made my way to the spotlight. Someone else's footsteps began to follow me again. I had almost forgotten about that, so I ran to the spotlight.

"Talon!" I froze at the yell. At that moment I started to hear that same iron chain rattling as before. They where coming from the same direction as the yell. Shivers ran down my spine as I walked towards the spotlight.

"Behind the spotlight." The voice commanded

I wasn't sure if it was a good idea to do as the voice said, though I did want to know who it was and how it knows my name.

"I know you want to purge yourself from your emotions, and you seek power." It said.

I didn't want to admit it, but it was true. My emotions and morels always seemed to come back to haunt me. The pity for the Staravia made me helpless to the environment. My loneliness caused me an injury and may have set me up for this whole thing. Then my laziness, if I had done the exercises my mentor always makes me do instead of slaking off, maybe I would have had the stamina to of kept Mary alive and then all the other times that are too numerous to go into.

"I want to help you." the sinister voice said.

I decided to at least hear it out. I walked around the spotlight to face whoever the voice was.

"What do you want?" I asked

"Just… want to offer my services Talon." It said.

"How do you know my name?" I asked

"Oh… I know more about you then, a butcher knows about cutting up meat. You might be wondering how rigghhtt?" I reluctantly nodded. The vibe that this creep was emanating was making me want to leave.

"You don't have to be scared of me. After all, I only… want to help you in your endeavors, but before I can do anything, you have to release me from these chains that suppress my power and keep me prisoner in my own home." It answered.

"Where are we?" I asked.

"In your subconsciousness." It stated.

"Wait, if this is **my** subconsciousness, how are **you** here and how is it **your** home?" I questioned.

"I DON'T HAVE TIME TO ANSWER ALL OF YOUR QUESTIONS! You are waking up and like your mother said, if you don't step into the spotlight within the next 30 seconds you won't remember ANYTHING!" It scolded.

"There is only one more important chain, to break it you have to willingly protect someone with out the thought of gain." It said.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"Your time is almost up." It stated and I heard it step forward.

I could almost see its face. It lifted a claw at me. I stepped back but it still shoved me into the light.

"I AM-"I couldn't hear the last part.

I thought I was seeing things when I thought I saw myself in dark colors and in chains, just before everything faded away.

"Hey… hey you ok?" someone's voice said.

My eyes slowly opened, still groggy from passing out. The area seemed to be in the forest. How did I get here? Last thing I remember about this world, was passing out in the desert.

"Hey, you have a name? You even awake?"

My eyes shot open as I spotted a red chimp. I slowly got to my feet. Keeping track of the chimp's every move. Just as it took a step towards me, I used quick attack to grab the red chimp by the neck and pinned it to the tree behind him. A sharp pain ran through my left-wing.

"Who are you, and what do you want?" I questioned the chimp.

"Ugh, my name… Is Luis." I lighten my grip on his neck as he told me his name.

"THE HECK IS YOUR PROBLEM!?" I tighten my grip as he snapped at me.

"Ggaaann" he squirmed.

"What do you want? What are you?" I pressed

"I'm a Monferno, ugha I saw you, gah, collapse in the desert." I lighten my grip again, ignoring the stinging pain coming from my left-wing.

"I couldn't leave someone, who needed help. I got you out the desert, and did what I could to help your bruise." I lighten my grip more as I saw bandages on my left-wing. I began to believe Luis's claims. I noticed that my tongue was moist again.

"You were very dehydrated, so I gave you some of my water." He said as I began to get concerned.

"How" I asked. Luis then pulled out a small plastic bag that had little bubbles in it, like it had water in it recently.

"Poked a hole in this bag and squeezed the water out." Luis said.

"Is that all?" I asked him

"Yea" He answered, and with that I released Luis

I sat next to the tree that Luis was siting under and wondered if I could trust this Pokémon.

**(Luis's pov)**

Who is this guy? I just saved him from certain death and this is the thanks I get? Had I known he would have reacted like that, I would have left him to die that dessert. Ingrate.

"Hey, sorry about that Luis. It's been a while since I came across a Pokémon that really only wanted to help. Defensive instincts are what kept me alive so far."

Defensive instincts? Why would anyone need those? What are those?

"What do you mean by 'defensive instincts'?" I asked the stranger.

"They are a sense or a feeling that warns me about dangers that I can't see, or when something just isn't right. At least, that's what it means to me." The stranger answered.

His answer only made me more curious about this guy. 'Dangers that I can't see' 'when something just isn't right?' seems like something for a paranoid nut. Oh man, don't tell me I picked one up. That would explain why he's so distrusting. Even so it's not in me to abandon a stranger who really needs help. I may have walked away if he was a dangerous evil doer. He even has an ominous vibe, but it's so faint. I was only able to pick it up when he had me pinned. DUH! But I get angry too. I wonder if I just happened to have saved him on a moody day or something. Well any day you're about to die would be the worst day ever! His apology did sound like he meant it, but I don't know. Who is this Pokémon anyway?

**(Combusken' pov)**

"What's your name?" Luis asked me. I looked at him and wondered if I should give my real name or not.

"Chris" I lied

"So… what kind of Pokémon are you Chris? Cuz I haven't seen anything like you around these parts."

"Anything? What do you mean by any**thing?**" I said thinking I could have a little fun at Luis's expense.

"Are you trying to imply that I'm a thing?"

"No-no, I was just… uh… trying to say… that I haven't seen any, uh of your kind at all" Luis said tongue-tied. I chuckled at his response.

"I'm a Combusken." I answered

"Wow really!? I've never heard of that!"

"Doesn't surprise me, I'm not from this region, or at least I'm not indigenous to here."

"Indigenous? It's hard to understand you when you use big words." Blurted Luis. I gave a small smirk at his remark.

"Ok then, my 'kind' isn't suppose to be found here like you or Geodude, or Staravia. I may have been born here, but my parents were from the Hoenn region. I don't really know how they ended up in here in the Sinnoh region."

"You mind if we walk-n-talk? There's a place I got to get to."

"Nah, where we headed to then?"

"Its right over…uh…there, no… that's not right. I… lost track of where I was going."

I sighed, and took out the map. I looked at the sun's position. It was past noon, so shadows would be pointing to the east. I grabbed a stick and planted it in a sunny spot. From the shadow's position, I knew where east and west were, because the sun sets in the west. There was a compass rose on the map and I held the map accordingly. I could barely see the top of stark mountain to the northwest.

"What are you doing?" asked Luis.

"Trying to find where we are on the map. So I think we are here" I said as I pointed to a spot on the map.

"Where are we going to?"

"Well, the place I got to get to isn't marked on human made maps like that one. But it is in this general area." Luis said pointing to a spot to the right of stark mountain and north of a place of luxury for humans.

"Where is the desert you found me at? Luis then pointed to it on the map.

"No, not on the map, I meant out here."

"Oh, Ok." Luis said as he pointed to the west.

Judging from the information, I confirmed our location just over a route often taken by humans.

"Looks like of you walk for five minutes to the west, and then head north; you should reach it by sunrise. So long if you don't stop to rest."

"Well, alright then. So where are you headed to Chris?"

"Don't know. Anywhere I guess."

"That's not a good idea. Your wing is hurt and needs proper care. If you like I can take you home."

"You would be wasting your time. I don't have a home to return to."

"Well that's too bad. I know! How about you come with me? I got extra space for ya where I live." Luis offered.

"I don't know."

"Come on, what's to know. It's not like you have someone waiting for you or anywhere else to go do ya? and besides an injury like that might make you an easy target for unfriendly Pokémon."

"Fine, I'll take the offer. lets go."

So we headed towards Luis's destination. After five minutes heading west, we headed north. Around this time he started talking again.

"So what did you mean when you said you didn't have a home to return to?" Luis asked

"Simple as that, I just don't have a place to call home anymore."

"Why, I mean what happened to make you say that? Did you have an argument with your parents and decide to run away? Or did you just get separated from them? Or maybe you couldn't live with the rules your parents had you follow?"

I wondered if I should tell him the full answer, or a short vague answer. But why did he want to know for? Is he just trying to be a friend or is he just nosey?

"Why do you want to know?" I asked.

"Well, I like to think that everyone has a place and a reason for living in the world. It makes me all worked up and sometimes sad and mad when someone has something special right in front of'em but can't seem to see it or understand it. Plus, it helps me know how I can help you more."

"So, I take it you have family to return to?" I asked. Luis's face turned slightly sad as he responded.

"My Father was captured by a human. My mother decided to try and find him, a few days later. She asked the neighbor to check in on me every now and then, my mother said she would return sometime soon, ether when she found him or after a week had passed. It has been two years since I last heard her voice."

"Sorry to hear that." I said.

"Well? Are you going to keep me in suspense? Or am I poking something too personal?" asked Luis.

*sigh*

"Fine, but I'm not going too much into detail."

"That-a-boy!" this monkey is way too cheerful, I thought to myself.

"Around seven months ago, I had a home, friends, family and more or less what anyone could need to be happy. Then on the night when the moon is full and a bright yellow, my life was forever changed. My village, my home was obliterated by an earthquake."

"What happened to your mama?"

"She died trying to save me."

"Your father?"

An involuntary tear fell down from my right eye when I thought about the situation with my father. I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"I don't feel like telling you that." I said to Luis

"I understand." He responded.

"Are you sure it was an earthquake _seven_ mouths ago?" asked Luis.

"Very sure" I said

"HHmmm… that's weird because there hasn't been an earthquake in Sinnoh for as long as I can remember." He then took his hand off my shoulder.

"Well, it did happen on the opposite side of stark mountain from where we are headed." I said.

"Maybe, but I still think that an earthquake that strong would have been felt, at least a little there." Luis said.

"Whatever." I responded.

**(3rd person pov)**

Around this time the sun began to set on the horizon. The two Pokémon decided to rest in a clearing nearby. The Combusken started a small fire and the Monferno took out two Oran berries and a candy bar. The monkey shared his food with the fowl. A fog rolled in and gave the forest an unsettling eerie feel to Luis. Talon on the other hand was unaffected by it.

**(Combusken's pov)**

"You alright Luis?" I asked

" …I'm "

*snap*

"Oh GEEZ! What was that?!" Luis fluttery yelped.

"…I stepped on a twig."

"Don't scare me like that!

"I wasn't trying to." I said as I gave a faint smile.

"Luis are you afraid of the dark?"

"No I'm not!"

When he said that, I waited until he wasn't looking and got a pebble and flicked it into some nearby bushes Luis practically flew off by the sound.

"You sure you're not scared of the dark?" I said.

Luis just glared at me

"It's not the dark I'm scared of, it's this foggy forest."

"What?" I asked curious by what he said.

"When I was younger, every now and then my mother would tell me about a giant beast that lives in an ever foggy lake, hiding inside a forest shrouded by its fog. At first I just thought it was a story to keep me from playing in the forest at night, but one night, when I snuck out to play in the forest, a fog rolled in. Now I have been through fogs before so didn't think much of it. Until… I got this eerie feeling that I was being watched. It spooked me enough to make me want to return home."

"So, fogs creep you out because you thought you were being watched?" I asked

"No. I'm not done explaining, now back to what I was saying. As I was returning home I was still nervous about the change in the mood of the forest, I thought I heard something in the distance like something heavy fell down. I started walking faster. I don't know how to describe it, but I felt like something was following me. Loud thumps started to follow behind me, but when I turned around, nothing was out of the normal. I was starting to quiver in fear. I began to run. I thought I heard someone call out my name in what sounded like a ghostly moan. Then I thought I felt some rumbling that was slowly making its way to me. I turned around to try and find what it was and still saw nothing out of the ordinary. I began to turn to face my home as my fear was slowly growing with every step I took and still the 'being watched' feeling continued. I desperately wanted to return home. Just as I faced the direction where I lived, an enormous shadow appeared in front of me with a loud boom. I was too scared to see anything clearly, I don't even know if it's an accurate description because of the fog and it being nighttime, from what I could see was that it had these piercing red eyes, it had more than four limbs, and these freaky wing-like things sticking out that looked more like torn cloths then feathered limbs. It took a step, and the whole area rumbled. It was so scary. It took another step and I just ran and hid behind a tree. Then I heard it sigh.

When I looked at it, it raised what I believed to be one of its legs. And then it smashed it down. The freakiest thing happened when it stomped. The land just… lifted up like if it was a rug, and I came tumbling from my hiding spot right in front of that beast. I was just too scared to move, besides putting my hands over my face. The land then lowered down back into place as if nothing had happened. The beast just stared at me, and I think I felt disappointment in its tone when I heard it say 'You are not him ether. You are clearly not ferocious as the one I am looking for. You can't break the elemental rules it seems. You may have the same benevolent heart as the subject, but yours is missing the evil half it is cursed with…'

When I peeked at it, it shook what I thought was its head and in an instant, it vanished right before my eyes! Soon after, the fog seemed to begin to retreat to the deeper part of the forest. With the fog gone, the forest has lost its ominous feel, and I was able to make it home. After that my parents and I moved to the area where we are headed to."

"Nice ghost story" I replied.

"it's not a story it really happened!"

"Maybe, but you misunderstand, I wasn't questioning it, I was just trying to say it makes a nice ghost story."

*Yawn*

"We should probably get some sleep now." I said tired.

Just as we were about to get some shut-eye, my sixth sense started acting up.

"Luis!" I said as I lightly shook him awake.

"What?"

"There is something watching us."

Luis's eyes widen with fear.

"You better not be trying to scare me."

"I'm not. " I said as I glared at him.

"Over there." I pointed to the southeast. At first nothing happened.

"I'm serious Chris do-" *snap*

Luis went silent.

"I think there are two of them." I said to Luis who was trembling.

Foot steps started sounding where I had pointed. We heard faint voices. They kept getting closer and closer. The entire event was very strange, my sixth sense was telling me that something wasn't right, but it couldn't detect any danger or anything threating coming from these two silhouettes. All of a sudden, the campfire got a bluish out line and went out. Luis was still scared stiff, and I didn't know how to react. Luis some how began to glow that same bluish color and then float in midair. Before I could do anything to help Luis, the same bluish light began to envelop me, and the same happened to me.

***Disclaimer* **

**I Don't own pokemon this is just a fanficion.**

**That's it for chapter 2. Please leave a comment or a review I want to hear your opinions. Any guesses on what Luis was describing?**


	3. Chapter 3

**Companions**

"**You know you'll always be inside my heart,**

**I want you happy even if we part"**

**(? pov)**

"Sir" a voice called.

"What is it?" responded a second voice

"We've received new information on subject Luis."

"Continue."

"Luis has been seen in the forest south of here."

"Good, we can send a team of two to eliminate him."

"Sir, are you sure that elimination is the best course of action?"

"Are you questioning me?"

"No, it's just that-"

"Do I have to remind you what happens to those who stick their noses where they don't belong?"

*button press*

A screen lights up showing two Delibird, one bigger then the other.

"It would be a shame if something were to happen to them just because someone's ego made him feel entitled to voice their opinions. The little boy shows much promise, and his mother looks like a sweetheart." Said voice two.

"I'll dispatch the team right away sir…"

"Any other updates?"

"No"

"What was that!?"

"I mean, no **SIR**"

"Dismissed"

*Alone in the room*

"He's becoming quite bothersome, he'll be the next one to go. If Luis ever found out the truth about his actual identity I might just lose my position here. Also it may run the risk of exposing all of my little side projects to the general public. I can't have that. Otherwise** she'll** be… just Luis left, then no more worries. It's all falling into place" said voice two.

**(3rd person pov)**

The owner of voice two looked out the window. It was nighttime, and all the stranger could think about was how close he was to finally clearing the 'chess board' of any and all that could possibly oppose him or even be considered a threat to his intentions. However, it hadn't come to mind that a "loose end" would come back to take revenge on voice two, even though the "loose end" wasn't planning revenge to start with.

**(Combusken's pov)**

Luis and I were helplessly floating in a bluish glow. Luis was freaking out, trying desperately to get free. Jimmy's image flashed in my mind for a split second. I can't say that I liked Luis, at all but… he did save me. That seems like a good enough reason to protect him, for now at least. Plus maybe I'll see what that entity can do for me. Luis and I started floating higher and higher. I didn't like that. I could feel myself getting slowly losing consciousness. I tried to get free but I wasn't able to. I kept trying, nothing. I was about to pass out when I noticed the bluish light began to glow a bright red and as it did, It was easier to move around. It's now or never. I crossed my wings on my chest raised my knees to my stomach and forced them out, releasing me instantly from the light.

I landed on my feet, and my sixth sense tingled. Whatever trapped me in that light, was going to try again.

**(3rd person pov)**

The Combusken rushed to the tree behind him and bounced off of it to another tree and back, zig zagging his way to reach Luis. When the Combusken reached near the top of the tree, the Combusken took careful aim at Luis. He then blasted forward with his quick attack right into Luis, freeing him from the light. The Combusken landed on his feet, while Luis landed on a tree branch then slipped and fell flat on his face. The Combusken stared at the dark forest, looking for any signs of movement. A bluish glow appeared in the distance. His sixth sense triggered so he quickly side-stepped and blasted forward with a quick attack. The Combusken could feel a blast of psychic energy graze his left shoulder as he ran, slightly curving to the right. The Combusken's sixth sense could detect another energy blast getting ready and the second enemy about to shoot something. An idea clicked in his mind.

The Combusken stopped in his tracks as a beam of white cold shot through the air, in front of his face almost touching his beak. He then changed targets and ran towards the enemy who shot the white beam, keeping the glowing enemy directly behind him. When the Combusken got close enough to the enemy, he used quick attack to tackle it. The enemy staggered backward. The enemy from behind, fired the psychic energy right towards the Combusken. Just what the Combusken wanted. He grabbed the enemy he was facing by what he thought was its right arm and pulled it towards him, then used his other wing to place it on the enemy's lower left side and threw it in to the energy blast.

The Combusken ran 45 degrees to the right until he heard the explosion of the blast, and changed direction heading directly for the enemy that shot the energy blasts. The explosion sent dust and smoke everywhere.

Luis was busy trying to get the campfire started again, but a lot of the twigs were too charred to light up again. He would have helped the Combusken, but Luis couldn't fight in the dark like he can.

The Combusken was using the distraction from the explosion to try to analyze this opponent. Something about it was familiar, even though he never fought a psychic like this one before.

The eyes of the psychic type glowed and it lifted its arms, then quickly lowered them down. The dust fell down to the ground, and the smoke cleared, but it was still dark.

The Combusken quickly hid behind the tree to the side of the psychic and waited. The small psychic knew the Combusken as nearby, but couldn't pin point him. Normally an excitable Pokémon or types like fire, fight or poison were easy for the psychic to track down in a fight. From the actions of this combatant, the psychic knew for a fact that it was at least a fighting type.

"Why… why is… this one so… difficult to pin point?" the psychic thought to itself. The psychic was so used to using its psychic abilities for sensory and offence often in fights, yet it seemed like both were liabilities against this one.

The Combusken jumped from the tree he was hiding, and threw himself towards the psychic from behind with the intention of using a double kick on it. The psychic turned around at the last second and caught the Combusken with confusion and slammed him to the ground and threw him into a tree. He landed on his feet and jumped off of it and darted for the psychic. It tried to catch the Combusken with confusion, but the Combusken disappeared. The psychic turned around fearing another attack from behind, but was slammed with a heavy impact from its side. The psychic went tumbling and the Combusken chased after it.

Luis was finally able to get another campfire going. He as just amazed at the incredible fight the Combusken was putting on, despite his injury. Luis was having trouble following what the Combusken was doing. Something caught Luis's attention in some nearby bushes.

Just as the Combusken was about to grab the psychic, it vanished. He looked around for it, but couldn't find it. He closed his eyes and focused all his energy on his sixth sense. His eyes shot open, and looked up at a tree branch. He could just barely see the silhouette of the psychic. He ran to the tree, jumped towards it, kicked towards another nearby tree, and bounced back. zig zagging his way up to the same branch as the psychic. As soon as he got there, the psychic fired another energy blast. The Combusken narrowly avoided it. The psychic used this chance to vanish again. The Combusken didn't need to use his sixth sense to find the psychic this time.

Luis walked up to the bushes that had his attention. He moved some of the branches off, and could almost see what it was. He placed a hand on it, and it felt fury, warm and soft. The fur was pleasant and oddly familiar to Luis. He moved in closer. This was a Pokémon he knew already, it's just he couldn't remember who exactly it was. Upon further inspection, Luis discovered that it was unconscious. Being the kind-hearted Pokémon he was, he decided to help it. Luis gently picked it up off the bushes. His right arm under its neck, and his left arm under its knees. Essentially, bridal style. As he carried this Pokémon towards the campfire, he realized that this was a female Bunnery. Under the soft illumination of the camp fire, it had just hit Luis like a thousand bricks. This was the same Bunnery he was friends with. If this was in fact that Bunnery then, that means the other Pokémon that the Combusken was fighting had to be… Luis thought to himself.

All the Combusken needed to do to find the psychic was just look down to the ground. There was a glow on the ground near the tree he was standing on. A white glow not bluish. Not wanting to take any chances, the Combusken jumped off the tree and ran to the glowing psychic. As the Combusken ran to the psychic, the glowing psychic began to change size and form.

It went from a small body round head with two crescents on it, to having a body that resembles a ballerina. It had what looked like a tutu, skinny legs looking like they had greenish stockings. The two crescents on the head moved from the front and back of the head, to the sides of the head, giving the impression of being hair accessories.

The newly evolved psychic lifted one of its arms and at its tip, a bluish glow started to take on the form of a ball.

"Again with the blasts of psychic energy." The Combusken thought to himself. "It usually takes around 7 seconds for this psychic to charge it before it decides to fire it. I wonder if there is a way to-"the Combusken's sixth sense tingled and at that moment, a bigger blast of psychic energy nearly annihilated him. The Combusken barely side stepped it with a quick attack.

"I wasn't expecting it to have gotten so much stronger and faster, even with evolution." Thought the Combusken.

At that moment another blast of psychic energy was hurdling strait for him. He used quick attack to hide behind a tree. The psychic clearly saw him hide behind the tree and fired energy blasts curving behind the tree. The Combusken used quick attack to hide behind another tree, and another random tree in an effort to confuse the psychic. The Combusken was breathing so heavily after as many quick attacks that it was giving away his position to the psychic. He held his breath, and sneaked to another tree and picked up a rock.

The psychic looked around nervously, while getting an orb of psychic energy ready. Every thing was still and calm, the breathing that was coming from the opponent was gone. A footstep sounded from a nearby bush that rustled for a second. The psychic wasted no time blasting it with its psychic orb. When it did, a blunt pain shot through its back. The psychic staggered forward and arced its back out of pain. It twirled around like a dance when it tried to face what hit it. To its dismay, the combatant was getting another attack ready. The psychic tried to lift its hand to shoot even a quick energy blast, but the Combusken grabbed the psychic's hand and forced it upward, and its psychic energy blast harmlessly shot up into the sky. Desperately the psychic tried to use its other hand to fire at least a weak shot at the Combusken to free its self, but the Combusken saw it coming and grabbed it to force it away. The blast flew into a tree. The psychic tried to teleport but the Combusken quickly hopped and landed a drop kick styled double kick on the psychic's chest, throwing off its concentration to teleport away. The psychic got back up, vision blurry and its body weak from this fight and the multiple missed energy blasts. In a last ditch effort the psychic decided to try a combination that it had worked on for a while, but was never able to master. From the way this fight was going, the psychic noticed that the Combusken liked to use its quick attack to appear to vanish and strike from behind. That was an odd tactic for a fight type since they usually prefer the macho face to face thing and this isn't even a dark type. The psychic lifted both its arms and pointed them at the Combusken. The psychic began to glow that familiar bluish color. The Combusken had already thought out his final attack. At the psychic's "finger" tips the same orb of psychic energy started to charge. Both Pokémon breathing heavily, both near their limit. The Combusken used bulk up, and the psychic used calm mind, preparing their final attack.

The Combusken ran towards the psychic, and the psychic fired the psychic energy. The sixth sense of the Combusken tingled, and the Combusken vanished. What the psychic fired wasn't an orb this time. It was a long beam, which oddly vibrated for a split second. The psychic was counting on the Combusken to appear from behind again, so the combination could finally end this fight. To the psychic's surprise, it felt a blunt pain come from its left side, that sent it crashing across the ground, before landing belly up. The Combusken cringed from the impact's effects on his left wing. For some reason the Combusken's sixth sense wouldn't stop tingling.

"I guess this is check" said the Combusken. "Mate" said the psychic with a smile on its face as it slowly fainted.

The Combusken had a look of confusion by the psychic's final comment. The Combusken's confused expression was quickly replaced by agony. An unbearable pain shot through his left wing, when a smaller beam of psychic energy hit his wing. He turned to see where it came from and saw a small portal or wormhole of some kind floating in the air. He turned in the opposite direction and there was another one floating close by.

A leaf fell from a nearby tree and glided into the wormhole where it vibrated for a split second. 2 seconds later it came out through the other wormhole.

"when the larger beam vibrated." He thought. "and when it uttered 'mate', checkmate… clever."

The Combusken's body was feeling extremely heavy and shaky from all the damage from the fight and his wing was throbbing in pain. He was trying to stay awake for fear that the psychic would get back up, but try as he might he was still slowly losing consciousness.

The monferno had finally came to find the two Pokémon to stop the unnecessary fight, but was too late. At the sight of Luis the Combusken collapsed seeing that he was ok.

"What a mess" thought Luis. "Not bad, even with an injured wing."

Luis cut an Oran berry he was caring in half, and placed it in the Combusken's beak. He slowly ate it and got back up, surprising Luis. Luis had a look at the psychic and confirmed what he already knew.

**(Combusken's pov)**

"The psychic isn't a problem anymore Luis."

"**She** wasn't a problem to begin with, Chris."

"Huh?"

"Course she was a ralts the last time I saw her."

"Well **she** did evolve during our battle."

"Her name is Lisa." Luis said.

"How would you know that?" I asked, although I already had a good idea why someone would know the name of someone. Why else would Luis know her?

"She's a dear friend of mine." Said Luis

I thought as much, though I wondered what kind of 'friends' would attack other so called friends. However with my track record after the earthquake, it actually didn't sound too strange. I wondered what could possibly be the reason for these two to attack Luis and me in the middle of the night. It was dark, foggy and they came with little noise, desirable conditions for striking a target quickly and with minimal resistance, if done quickly enough. So why… why didn't these two follow through with the attack and finish both Luis and I off when they had their chance when we were floating in that bluish light? From a sneak attacker's perspective it didn't make much sense to waste such an open opportunity to deal heavy damage. Remorse maybe? No then they could of just left or teleported away before I had confronted them.

"You alright Chris?"

"Yeah"

"What's on your mind Chris, you're rather quiet after a battle like that."

"Just wondering, what kind of friends you keep around. We were attacked in the middle of the night."

"You got me, maybe it's because these two can make the situation exciting. Whenever I'm around these two it's rare to have a doll time."

"That doesn't explain why we were attacked, Luis"

"We can ask them later."

"If they lie?"

"They never lie, at least not to me."

I picked her up bridal style. I winced a little from the pain in my left wing, even though I have gotten ratter good at hiding emotion and tolerating pain.

"Let me carry her Chris, don't want to do farther harm to your wing."

"I got her."

"No really it's not good for ya."

I rolled my eyes, and repositioned her body all on my right wing. Her head was resting on my shoulder and at the side of my head. My wing running across her back, leaving my left wing unoccupied. Luis had a look of shock seeing me hold her with little effort.

"Better?" I asked him.

"Y-yeah…"

With that settled, we headed back to the campsite without saying a word. For some reason I couldn't shake the feeling that something worse was headed our way, but I brushed it away when I saw the glow from the campsite. Luis had been using his flaming tail to light the way, like a torch. It was then that I began to notice things about Lisa.

She had a very sweet smelling scent that was so lithe, I could barely smell it. If her head wasn't so close to my nose, I probably couldn't have even picked it up. Her skin was soft and delicate, and from the way my feathers were brushing against her, I could tell her skin had a smooth and plush feel to it that almost begged to be lovingly touched or embraced. The green on her head was a lot like hair. The way her "hair" swayed against my feathers on my upper right shoulder, I could almost swear, that the strands were dancing with my feathers. From the feel of it, her hair had an alluring and enticing silky feel. I turned my head for a short second to look at her face. In that moment, I was captivated by her adorable, sleeping face. I haven't felt that way about anything in such a long time, it almost felt alien. When my eyes dropped to her charming and beguiling lips… I bit my tongue and faced forward.

I've been down that road before, it only led to an internal abyss that I thought I would never crawl out of. I wasn't about to make myself venerable to it again, I don't know if I could be able to come out whole, or as close to whole as I did last time. I felt her arms suddenly wrap up around my neck and back, in a gentle hug. It took me by surprise not because I haven't felt a genuine, warm, and gentle embrace in a long time, but because I could swear that it radiated a familiar feeling. Not sure what it was, but it was oddly reassuring. Finally at the campsite, I saw another Pokémon lying near the fire unconsciously. Must be the other one I fought. It kinda looked similar to a rabbit, except its ears looked rounded and had a fluff of tannish colored fur on the tips, and all around its hips. The feet were colored the same tannish color and the rest of her body was a dark brown.

"And this is Daisy." Said Luis as he was getting a spot ready for Lisa, next to Daisy.

I laid Lisa gently in the spot, but she had a good grip on me and the more I tried to force her off, the stronger she held on. I could have pried her off since I know that most psychic types aren't known for their physical strength. But I didn't want to risk waking her up and start another fight. Guess I better try something different. I placed her on the soft ground with me on top of her.

"Chris what are you doing?" asked a nervous Luis. I didn't answer.

Lisa's grip loosened after a second or two. I placed my left hand on top of her right hand and slowly started to pull it off. Eventually I was able to get it completely off and so I placed it at her side. I used my right hand to slide her left hand off my back and placed it on her side. Finally I could go and get some sleep.

*Yawn*

All the while Luis still stared at me with an uneasy expression.

"Didn't want to wake her." Is all I said before laying down on the opposite side of the campfire and finally drifting off to sleep.

**(3rd person pov)**

What the Combusken didn't know, was that Daisy was awake the entire time and had one eye half open to give the impression of being unconscious. Even after seeing him carrying Lisa relatively uninjured, and walking in with Luis she still didn't trust him. After seeing the Combusken take a spot at the opposite side of the campfire and fall asleep, did the bunneary feel safe enough to finally fall asleep. Daisy didn't really distrust the Combusken because of what happened earlier, there was a more personal reason why she just wouldn't trust **his** kind.

Lisa on the other hand had been completely knocked out but not permanently harmed. From the moment she was picked up by the Combusken, she had started experiencing a bad dream that had been recurring lately.

When she was picked up by the Combusken, in her dream, she was being carried by her loving parents, a Gardevoir and a Gallade. They were laughing carefree in a sunny, golden colored meadow. Just having a light hearted good time under a blue sky. All with a smile on their faces. When she hugged the Combusken, it was only because in her dream, she was being embraced by both her mother and her father and in the background, a rainbow was being formed over a setting sun in the horizon over a white sandy beach. All three were watching in awe at the beautiful and majestic site that stood before them. The feeling that the Combusken was getting from Lisa was the feeling she was experiencing, from the site she was seeing with her parents in her dream. It is a feeling that most kids feel when they are in the arms of someone who truly loves them for who they are and only for that, not some superficial reason. The reason it was reassuring for the Combusken was simply because that's how he felt whenever he was in the arms of his mother. He couldn't understand the feeling anymore because the life he was forced in to was deprived of that feeling. That life he was forced into was only filled with hatred, sadness, fear, bitterness, detachment, loneliness and pain. He spent so much time without the feeling that Lisa was emanating, that it was easy to see why he couldn't recognize it. When Lisa griped hard on the Combusken, she honestly didn't want to let go. Not the Combusken, but in her dream, her parents set her down and said to her that they have to go, but that they will be back. She didn't want to let go, she wanted nothing more then to be with them. While she didn't fully understand why they sometimes go away, she would find comfort believing that they would return, because they always did. However, this time it was different. She strongly felt that if she let them go this time, she would never see them again, so she ran after them. She caught up to them and grabbed both of their arms and refused to let go. Tears flowing from her eyes like cascading waterfalls.

"Don't Go! Not this time…" she said to her parents.

"Why not? You know we have to go." They responded.

"I'm afraid this time, you won't come back. Please, why do you always leave me alone without even telling me where you go?"

"Don't be silly honey, we have always come back and you're a big girl now, you have to learn to do certain things on your own. But we promise one day, when you're older, we'll tell you. Now this is the last time we leave you. Can you be a good girl and wait for us at the house until we return?"

Lisa reluctantly let go, but didn't answer, that's when she started to let go of the Combusken. To her dismay, she saw that her parents begun to fade away in her dream. She ran after them as fast as her legs could carry her.

"STOP! MOMMY, DADDY!"

And then they were gone leaving the little ralts all alone never to see them again. The clouds let out a downpour on her, while she was on her knees wishing that they never left. However what finally caused her to fully let go was that this dream began to end differently. Ordinarily the dream ended with her crying alone in the dark raining meadow, but this time it didn't end there. She felt the rain stop beating against her back. The clouds moved in such a way that they let out a ray of sunlight shine through on her like a spot light. It was big enough to bathe her and someone else in its warm and gentle illumination. Out of nowhere, she felt a warm finger carefully wipe her tears from her face. The monition from the finger was gentle but had a subtle firmness to it. Shocked by the unexpected touch, she scrambled backwards. Lisa couldn't recognize who had wiped away her tears. The finger belonged to an unfamiliar form and the way the light was to the form's back, and because it was a dream, the form was silhouetted. This shadowy figure was radiating an odd mix of malevolent and benevolent energies, so she couldn't tell if this was a friend or a foe.

"I'm not going to hurt you." It said in a soothing serene voice that had a confidence behind it that was slowly putting her at ease.

"What do you want?" asked Lisa

"I want to see you smile and I just want for you to be happy. It pains me to see you sad and alone."

"Then go away."

"But I'll know that you're in emotional pain. I can't live knowing that anything would be keeping you from being truly happy."

"No one told you to help me so why would you bother?"

"Just because no one tells me to do the right thing doesn't mean I'll ignore something that isn't right."

Hearing those sweet words, she found herself running towards the humanoid form. She jumped into its chest. In doing so, the form softly cuddled her. The form's left arm around her waist, its right elbow resting on her back and right hand rubbing her hair. The dark energy instantly vanished as soon as both bodies began to cuddle, making Lisa feel so safe and protected that she had begun to evolve into a kirlia. She started crying again from missing her parents.

"It's ok. Let it all out. I'll be here for you, for as long as you want me to. I won't judge you." It said.

When she finished crying she noticed that its body was comfortably soft and warmer then anyone she had met before. The surface of its body wasn't covered by skin. It wasn't fur either the feel to it was too different from hair for it to be fur. Lisa felt this before but couldn't exactly remember what it was that his body was covered in. At that moment she didn't care. All that mattered was that this being was here and made her feel like she mattered to someone, so its body could have been made of sludge for all she cared.

Morning came and all four Pokémon began to wake up. The Combusken was the first then Luis, Lisa, then Daisy.

"Morning you two. Sleep well?" Luis asked the two girls.

"Morning Luis." They both answered.

Then their attention fell on the Combusken.

"Who are you?" asked Daisy.

The Combusken knew the question was meant for him but he didn't answer.

"This is Chris. I met him yesterday not far from here." Luis answered.

The two girls eyed him suspiciously.

"What are you Chris?" asked Lisa

"I'm a Combusken." He answered

"What's that?" asked Daisy.

"A fire bird from the Hoenn region." He answered.

"My mother is from there." Stated an interested Lisa.

"Is that so?" he said uninterested.

"You seem more like a Raph then a Chris. So how did you two meet?" asked Daisy.

He didn't answer.

"I just happen to have seen him fall in the desert. When I found him he was in pretty bad shape. Luckily for him I happened to have been there to save him." Said a proud Luis.

The Combusken on the other hand was a little annoyed that he was rescued. He never asked to be saved and now he owes Luis. The Combusken never liked owing anybody anything not out of pride, but because it made him feel tethered when he prefers to be free to leave without any obligations. But the most likely reason he was annoyed by Luis actions would because Luis kept "Chris" from joining his loved ones. Nothing he can do about it now.

"Say, who or what attacked us last night anyway?" asked Daisy. Luis just looked at the Combusken.

"I did" answered the Combusken.

"What the heck! Why would you do that for?! What we ever do to you!?" Luis and "Chris" just glared at Daisy for asking.

"You started it! You and Lisa put out our fire and practically scared me half to death!" Luis yelled at the ashamed girls.

"Uh…that was all Lisa." Said Daisy. Lisa just glared at her for trying to duck the blame.

"And you did nothing to stop her? Then you're just at fault here as she is. What a terrible person you must be, selling her out like that." Scolded the Combusken. The Bunnery sighed in defeat.

"What were you two trying to do anyway?" asked Luis.

"Just trying to prank you. We know Luis is a total scaredy cat when it comes to foggy forests. We just wanted to spook Luis enough to get him to make a funny face." Daisy said as Luis shamefully put a hand on his blushing face.

"Was it worth it?" asked the Combusken.

"Totally." answered Daisy.

"Kinda." Answered Lisa.

"Kinda?" asked Luis.

"I didn't want to end up in a battle, but I did like that I had evolved."

"I guess we better get moving Luis." Said the Combusken.

"Yea. So where are you two headed?" Luis asked the two girls.

"Home." They both said.

"Great. We can all go as a group." Said Luis.

"Fine so long as **he** doesn't cause anymore trouble." Said Daisy. The Combusken just rolled his eyes.

The four got their things together and continued to head north. They had been unaware that two poison types were watching them when they woke up before returning to where they came from, after seeing that they were outnumbered. All except the Combusken who didn't think much of it because they haven't given him a reason to react.

After a while Lisa became curious about this new addition to their group. She decided to read his mind, but secretly as she didn't want to make a scene and it would be often be quicker to just break in instead of going through the trouble of getting permission. Besides, she has done this several times before and hardly anyone ever even noticed, more or less because of how quick she is at it. It often takes less then a second though it can feel like hours once in the mind. She picked up a pebble in her hand. She focused her psychic abilities then let go of the leaf and made it into the Combusken's mind.

Once inside, she found herself on a grassy plain, and in front of her was deep crater. In the middle of it stood a column like structure holding what looked like a village at the top.

"That's where I need to go." She thought.

"How am I supposed to get there? My psychic abilities don't really work in another's mind."

It was then that she noticed a wooden sign near the edge of the cliff.

It read 'Do you have permission to go farther? Yes/no'

The 'yes' and 'no' seemed to be sticking out. She clearly didn't have permission, but wondered what would happen if she tapped on the 'yes'. When she did nothing happened. It just slid back in to place. Then she tried the 'no'. When she tapped it, it began to glow and the wooden sign slowly disappeared. In its place a, bridge formed at the edge of the cliff heading toward the top of the column. When she took her first steps on the bridge, three murkorw flew in and roosted on the sides. In a soft chirpy voice they chanted 'go back' over and over. The farther she walked, the more murkorw flew in to join in the chant. When Lisa walked past them they said, "We warned you…" and they dissolved away creeping out Lisa. When they were gone she came across a red line on the bridge. As soon as she stepped over it she heard the loud sound of glass cracking. She took another step and the sound of glass cracking and shattering came from everywhere. When she looked around at the scenery, she was shocked to find big cracks floating around. When she took one more step forward the cracks got bigger, and where the cracks intersected to form shapes, the shapes fell leaving behind a black emptiness. Not wanting to know what would happen if all the scenery fell, she turned around and tried to run back to the start to try and get out. The moment she went over the red line again, the bridge rumbled causing her to trip. Suddenly the sound of crumbling got louder and louder. She watched in fear as the bridge was crumbling away, from the cliff towards her. Lisa stood up and high tailed it in the other direction. The scenery continued to shatter away revealing a dark plain, and a fiery pit at the bottom. The place had changed into a dark void with only the column, the crumbling bridge, and the only light came from the fiery pit below. Lisa continued running. As she ran the bridge began to get walls at the sides.

"G**E**T **O**U**T**." said a voice that sounded like multiple voices speaking in unison. She looked around and saw no one. Up ahead she saw what looked like an intersection.

"But how? It was a striate path when I first got on." She thought to herself.

"Its some else's mind." She reminded herself.

At that moment, a humanoid figure that was covered in a golden colored fire ran across the intersection. The site of it freaked out Lisa so much that her heart almost jumped out of her chest. Her hands were shaking and she almost fell down when a message formed from the golden fire in midair.

"Get out" it read before dissolving away. Lisa's heart was racing, but the familiar rumbling sound of the slowly crumbling bridge was forcing her to keep going. As she made it to the intersection, she looked to the right. It was a dead end, like on a maze. To the left, it was that same closed cubic extension.

"Where did that figure go?" she thought as she ran passed the intersection.

The walls suddenly began to get darker and darker. Cold chills ran down her spine because she felt a singular presence coming from the walls. A face formed on the darken walls and it followed Lisa through the hallway-like bridge.

"**A**r**e** y**o**u **s**c**a**r**e**d **l**i**t**t**l**e **g**i**r**l?" said the face in that same multiple voice.

Lisa gasped and kept on running. The face just laughed before sliding in the opposite direction, leaving Lisa alone. She regretted ever stepping over the red line on the bridge. Had she known that all this would have happened, she never would have entered without permission. The rumbling of the bridge stopped, and Lisa took the moment to take a break. Just when she thought that the worst was over, there was a loud booming sound coming from where the rumbling had stopped. Then a grinding sound echoed through out the hallway like bridge while it shook. When the grinding and shaking stopped, there was another loud booming sound, this one sounded closer then the first. It was then followed by that grinding and shaking. The dim light from the fire pit, provided limited visibility, but she was able to see what was happening after the third slam. 3x3 meter square slabs from both walls were slamming into each other. The grinding sound was the square slabs and the floor grinding against the still standing part of the bridge as it fell in to the pit of fire below. Realizing this, Lisa got up and ran faster then she thought she could. The slamming was getting closer and closer to the psychic despite how fast she could try to run.

"**S**q**u**i**r**m **l**i**t**t**l**e **w**o**r**m" taunted the multi voice

Lisa thought she was reaching the column that was holding the village when the dim light reviled a column at the end of the hallway like bridge. By this time the slamming was about 7 meters away and the column was 10 meters away. As Lisa got closer she noticed that the column wasn't connected to the bridge. She would have to jump to get to it. She prepared herself as she closed the gap between her and the new column. Two slabs slammed together 1.5 meters away from her, when she got close to the edge. The slab was more then half way gone when she bent her knees to jump. When she leaped to the column, the final slabs began to slam into one another. The two slabs closed so close to her foot she could feel the wind from the impact the slabs made when they collided. She didn't land on the column. Her right hand, however was the only thing keeping her from falling into the pit. She slowly got her left hand on the ledge next to her right hand. There was a metallic sound coming from the bottom of the column, and another, and another. When Lisa looked down to see what was causing it, she saw metal spikes shooting out of the column in a path striate for her. Her heart started pounding so hard she could almost feel it tap against the rocky column. She took a deep breath and forced herself high enough to get her stomach over the ledge. Then got her right knee over the ledge, and was able to roll on to the surface of the column. The metallic sounds of the spikes stopped as soon as she was on the safety of the top if the column. Lisa took this time to rest after this ordeal. When she caught her breath, she stood up to examine the column. There was only a wall with a red wheel sticking out. On top of the wheel, was some writing that read.

"Go with the flow, your demise will come from the wise. Push your luck and counter the clock, you won't be in the norm but you will find your way home."

After reading that, she noticed that the wheel resembled a clock.

"Counter the clock…" she thought to herself as she took hold of the wheel.

"I hope I'm right about this."

She turned the wheel to the left until it wouldn't move any more and let go of the wheel. The wheel fell off and the wall made a sound like a gear was turning. Then the wall fell over connecting to another bridge. There was no where else to go so she walked on the bridge, hoping that no more freaky things will happen. When she got to end of the bridge she got the funny feeling that something wasn't right. When she turned around, the bridge she was walking on was twisted up with loops, spins, and unnatural twirls.

"That's not normal" she thought to herself.

She turned back to the edge and jumped to the final column holding the village. She passed through the ground and fell. The column had disappeared and the face from earlier took the place of the column.

"**H**a**v**i**n**g **f**u**n** b**r**e**a**k**i**n**g** i**n**?!"

Lisa could only close her eyes and scream in fear from the multi voice. Just when she thought it was all over, something or someone caught her and the giant face disappeared. When she opened her eyes, she was being held by the Combusken who was standing in front of the familiar wooden sign in the grassy plain. He let her stand up.

"You want to tell me what all of that was!?" Asked Lisa.

"A defense mechanism." He answered "get my permission next time and it won't activate. Besides there were plenty of warnings that you ignored apparently."

"Fine, I will try to." Said Lisa.

Now that she was outside of that trap, she focused her mind and was able to safely return to her body.

"I don't like others in my mind without my permission." The Combusken told Lisa, back in the real world.

The pebble fell just then, meaning that not a moment had passed since Lisa first entered.

**sorry this one took longer then i was expecting. well at least it's longer then the first two. So how was this chapter? what is eatting away at you? what did you like? what did you hate? leave a review and tell me!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own pokemon. The rights to them belong to their respective owners.**


	4. Chapter 4: Behind the cross hairs

**THE FOLLOWING CONTENT ISNT NECESSARY TO THE MAIN STORY**

**IF YOU DON'T CARE FOR BONUS CONTENT, THEN SKIP DOWN TO WHERE IT SAYS:**

**BEHIND THE CROSS HAIRS**

"I can't believe you would do such a thing! After everything I did for you, you're really going to throw it all away just like that?!"

"Samuel please! I'm… I'm sorry! Don't go! I don't know what I would do without you!"

"You should have thought of that before you decided to run back into the arms of the same person that is constantly ruining your life and treating you like trash!"

"Please forgive me"

"Like the last two TIMES?!"

"He's just-"

"He's WHAT Elaine? The temptation that makes your heart beat while he's beating you!? The forbidden nectar that lures you to bliss while it slowly poisons you!? Elaine I love you, truly I do, but I can't live worrying if you're going to knowingly, go back to the life that you tried so hard to leave behind."

"…"

"Elaine, consider this as the choice that will define how your life will continue, either come with me to the airport so we can start over in a new place with nothing holding us back, or stay here and revert back into the person you hated so much. Whatever you decide, I AM getting on that airplane, with or without you and never coming BACK."

*The front door slams open*

"So you're here."

"Yea, that's right Samuel. I'm here to bring back what belongs to me."

"Elaine choose here and now, who are you going to spend the rest of your life with? Me or David?"

"Samuel, don't be stupid. She will always chose me over you. You lack the manhood to keep her in line while giving her the excitement that she craves."

"Oh so is that why she came to me in the first place? Besides, I'm not like you David. I don't have the insecurities that influence me to be a violent, simple minded, chauvinist. You're nothing more than a spoiled child."

"Watch what you say Samuel. You may have to swallow your own words."

"Both of you stop it! I made up my mind. I know who I what to spend the rest of my life with."

'_What is this trash!? After being gone for a few months, this happens!?_'

**Who said that?**

*A red and Orange figure closes in on the arguing three*

"You don't have to say anything Elaine you're coming with me you belong to me, after all. We're leaving Samuel and don't you interfere with business that doesn't concern you if you want to live longer."

*A few round objects crash through the windows and release fumes into the air.*

**What the what!? This isn't what I wanted to happen!**

"Samuel what is happening!"

"I don't know Elaine! David do you have something to do with this?!"

"Idiot! I wouldn't try to destroy your house with me still in IT!"

*A flame shot in through one of the windows*

"Everyone on the FLOOR!"

**Oh no. I really hope that isn't some kind of combustible gas.**

*There was an explosion, which brought flames that engulfed the entire weakened house*

"We have to get out of here! Samuel how are we going to get out of here?"

"Elaine! Leave that trash to die in his coffin, we are getting out. Samuel will only slow us down!"

"The heck is wrong with you David! We ALL have to escape! You, me AND Samuel!"

*Part of the ceiling crumbles*

"Elaine! David! ABOVE YOU!"

*Sections of the ceiling begin to fall. Samuel tries to shove Elaine and David out of the way. One of the segments trap David and Samuel underneath burning wood and fiberglass, threating to scorch their bodies in an inferno and become their tome*

**Aw come on! That's not the way this was supposed to happen!**

"Elaine! You have to help David and me!"

"Screw that! Elaine forget him just help me so we can get out of here."

"Uh…"

"Elaine if you don't do something both David and I will die!"

"What do I do?"

*Elaine placed her hands on the fallen debris and attempted to lift it at least enough to give the two men a chance to crawl out, to no avail*

"I'm sorry. I'm just not strong enough" *Cough*

"Elaine there is a crow bar behind you. Use it to help you use every ounce of strength to lift this heavy chunk of burning ceiling off of us."

"Ok"

"She's weak and useless Samuel. We all are going to die here." *Cough*

"I am not going to accept any of that! Especially not from you David."

"It doesn't matter if you do accept it because it will happen whether you like it or not."

"I got it! Now what do I do Samuel?"

"Put that brick on the floor close to the debris."

"Ok, now what?"

"Put the slightly curved tip of the crowbar underneath the debris while holding the bar over the brick. Good, now push down on the hooked end of it."

"Samuel, David I don't think it is enough!" *Cough*

*A burnt support beam fell, nearly catching Elaine underneath*

"Samuel, David this beam is too close to the crowbar and it won't let me use it!"

"Is it too hot to touch?"

"No"

"What the heck do you think you trying to get her to do Samuel? She's too pathetic to really do anything." *Cough cough*

*Cough* "Don't listen to him Elaine, now try to pull on the beam so it will fall on the hooked end of the crowbar."

"I don't know if I can." *Cough*

"YES YOU CAN! I know you are capable of great things. *Cough*don't listen to what people like David tell you. You do have the strength to carry on, the ability to endure hardship, and most importantly, you have a heart."

*Elaine pulled on the fallen wood beam having been encouraged by Samuel. It moved an inch at first, then another. Then it finally fell on the hooked end of the crowbar, lifting the broken ceiling high enough to allow the men to wiggle themselves out.*

"You did it Elaine! Now let's get out of here, you too David."

*Growl*

*David ran and made it to the exit before Elaine and Samuel could*

"To hell with the two of you! I don't need you Elaine, you can die here as the trash that you have always been, with Samuel too, that swine."

*David leaves, slamming the door behind him, causing the door to shake loose some of the wooden walls enough to crumble and seal the door's immediate area, trapping Elaine and Samuel inside of the burning house.*

"What are we going to do now Samuel?!"

"…Elaine take my hand…" *cough*

"Ok, but what good will that do?" *cough*

"Elaine, I'm glad that I could be blissed to be able to spend my last moments with you. I'm sorry for yelling earlier. *Cough* Despite the mistakes I have made in my life, despite what others have said, I… *Cough cough*… I never regretted any of the time we have spent together."

"NO, NO! Don't you dare! Don't say your good-byes!"

"My only regret, is that I couldn't keep the promise I made about starting the life we have talked about in the land we dreamed of moving to."

"Samuel…"

"Elaine…"

*The two drew closer to one another as the intense flames continued to bring the house to ruin and jeopardize the two lives. The flames sucked the oxygen out of the crumbling house, but the two had long since accepted their fate when all of the exits had been either blocked or destroyed. As their lips finally touched, it didn't matter to them that their lives slowly drawing to a burning close, all that mattered was that they were in the embrace of the one who had changed their lives for the better. The flames crawled closer and closer, but the two were too lost in the burning love that they shared to even care.*

'_Alright enough is enough this shouldn't take much longer.'_

**Who is that!? Is it the same guy that altered the way this was supposed to have turned out?**

'_Yes. I am.'_

**Well stop it.**

'_Oh I'm just getting started'_

**Oh joy**

*The overheated propane tank outside of the house had finally reached a sufficient temperature by the heat of the ignited house that it exploded and blasted a hole at the side of the house giving the two inside a chance to escape.*

"Elaine! Look!"

"We can escape!"

"Quickly before it closes!"

*The two ran to the hole in the wall while having trouble breathing and constantly coughing due to the lack of oxygen and the presence of smoke mixing with toxic fumes in the house caused by the blazing inferno.*

"You first Elaine."

"But what about you?!"

"Don't worry about me! Just GO!"

*Elaine jumped through the hole and tumbled on the ground outside of the house before getting to her feet to look at the hole. Samuel attempted to jump through as well, but the hole on the house collapsed on him before he could make it all the way out. With the lower half of his body slowly getting crushed under hot wood and brick he wasn't sure if he could pull himself out this time; all the while the dangerous fire still continued to advance to towards Samuel, stealing away at the short time he still had to be alive with Elaine.*

"I'm not sure if I can make it out this time Elaine. Leave me! Just promise me to live a life worth living…"

"…"

"Don't waste your time on me. There are still more propane tanks inside the basement. You can still make it out of here before they explode. ONLY IF YOU GO NOW!"

*Instead of obeying him she got to the collapsed wood and tried to lift it*

"Elaine are you doing?! Stop it! You have to go, you have to live! Don't throw your life away like this! DON'T DIE JUST FOR MY SAKE!"

"Samuel would you JUST SHUT UP! I am perfectly capable of making my own decisions. I now have come to understand and appreciate all that you have done for me. From the first day I met you I only took you for granted, always thinking that I was going to find others like you eventually. But I was wrong. No one saw me the way you did…still do. You made me feel like I mattered, even when I long thought that I was nothing more than a doll to be thrown away after entertaining the one who paid to use my time. That is why I can't leave you, why I CHOOSE to risk my life for your sake. It is because I think you are worth it, maybe because you believed me to be worth everything that you did. Its time I start using my own strength, instead of leeching yours dry…"

"ELAINE!... You… you IDIOT! YOU STUBBORN IDIOT! Or… Or maybe… I'm the idiot… ok then you heave and I'll try to push it off."

*Elaine lifted with all her might to pry the ruble off of Samuel as he began to push the ruble off of himself. Eventually their combined efforts finally gave Samuel the chance he needed to crawl out*

"Come on! Elaine we have to move!"

"Where to?!"

"The edge of the cliff! It is just far out enough that the blast won't reach us. Hurry!"

*They ran as fast as they could to the edge of the cliff until the propane tanks finally exploded, sending sharp pieces of burning shrapnel and crippling shock waves treacherously close to the two. The shock waves leveled the remains of the once sturdy house and pushed the two to the insecure edges of the cliff. Some of the hot shrapnel landed on the sandy beach at the foot of the cliff.*

"Samuel we're alive… WE'ER ALIVE!"

"Not for long."

"David!"

"Hey Elaine miss me?"

"I thought you said you weren't going to need us?"

"I did Samuel, but that doesn't mean that I was going to leave my property if it can still work. Now I'm going to take it back and throw you back into your warm little coffin so no one can be the wiser."

*David pulled a .50 caliber Desert Eagle loaded with soft nose bullets and aimed it at Elaine*

"Now move him to into the house. NOW ELAINE!"

"Why go so far David?"

"Samuel don't tell me you never pulverized an irritating mosquito."

"What?!"

"That is just what you are. An annoying little pest that thinks so highly of itself that it fools itself in to thinking that it can bite into anyone without worrying if what it is leeching won't crush it!"

"David put the gun down you don't have to do this."

"Oh you'd like that wouldn't you Samuel."

*Bang*

"The next one won't be in your shoulder, it will be in your head if you open your mouth again."

*Samuel cried out in agonizing pain as skin and muscle tissue splattered all over the blood saturated ground. The effects of the soft nose bullet made an entry wound on Samuel's shoulder the size of a nickel but the exit wound was far more life threating. The nose of the bullet flatten as it entered, and ripped off flesh off the bones in his shoulder as it left a cone shaped exit wound*

**Somewhere along the lines this got out of control.**

'_Time to finish what I started, now that they are in place. Besides this is far more interesting than that cheesy soap Opera crap you wanted to do'_

**But it would have ended quicker and nicer.**

'_I really don't care'_

*As David shifted his aim back to Elaine to force her to throw Samuel into the remains of the scorched house, a sharp pain erupted in David's back as a plopping sound came from his back as well. David became motionless as his arms fell to his sides. The large pistol slipped out of his hand, hitting the ground with a metallic thud and his face slowly became pale and lifeless.*

"David? Samuel I think we have our chance to escape."

*For a moment David didn't react in any way. Then his head dropped to stare at the ground when a bloody claw, holding a beating organ making a louder gashing sound, pierced through the left side of his chest. Then as quickly as it happened, the claw receded back into David's chest as he began to lean backwards with a final groan. Just before falling on his back, he was sent flying to the right side of the cliff landing on the very edge for a second before sliding off the cliff into the ocean. There was a red and orange human-like figure with a bloody right arm, which was still holding David's organ, standing where David took his last breath. A splash was heard from below the cliff. The red and orange figure was about the size of a small child and in one quick second it crushed the organ and tossed it nonchalantly away as it started making its way to the two on the edge of the cliff.*

"I don't know if we should be grateful, or fearful of it, Samuel."

*Pant-pant* "Well…we're safe… from David… because of… it Elaine." *Pant*

"So why is it coming our way?"

"Don't know… Let's go…find some… medical… help. I think… I'm starting… to… blackout"

"Ok"

*While taking off Samuel's shirt and placing it on the bullet wounds to prevent excessive bleeding, Elaine helps Samuel get to his feet and helps him walk to a nearby town. The two were only able to walk four steps before the figure got in their way. It was only when the two got that close that they realized that the figure resembled a chicken or some large fowl, but that wasn't what had their attention. No, it was what it took out of a bag it was carrying that brought fear back into their hearts. It took out a pin out of a round object, waited for four seconds and toss it at Elaine and Samuel. At first the actions of the bird like figure confused the two, but when the round object started discharging familiar fumes, they had a horrifying realization in that lighting fast moment. This thing was responsible for destroying Samuel's home and it was going to slaughter them worse than it did David. Knowing the fumes to be combustible, Elaine froze up in dread and Samuel reacted in the only way he thought to get out of this predicament. The bird like figure opened its beak and out came a stream of intense flames. There was an explosion when the flame reached the fumes. The bird didn't seem to be affected much by the blast, but Samuel and Elaine were nowhere to be seen after the explosion subsided.*

**So that was you?**

'_Yes'_

**You didn't have to be rude or gory…**

'_It was the only way I was able to get your attention.'_

**Why?**

'_Because it seemed like you have forgotten about the work you were doing.'_

**What work?** **You don't really look familiar.**

'_I should, you scatterbrain. And the work I'm referring to is displayed on the title.'_

**Oh. That… actually I haven't forgotten about that.**

'_So why don't I look familiar if you haven't forgotten then, and more importantly why haven't you continued on-'_

**I was busy with other things! I have a life outside of yours, you know. **

'_And I'm the rude one? So why don't I look-'_

**That's not important. Anyways, if I update that work, do you promise to let me finish Elaine's and Samuel's tail without your…presence?**

'_Fine'_

**But Elaine's and Samuel's comes first!**

'_Aberrant'_

*At the water below the cliffs, Elaine surfaced out of the water holding Samuel, unconscious on her arm. She struggled swimming to shore without dropping Samuel into the murky sea water. Every wave that came from the ocean splashed water in her face when it hit the back of her head making it difficult to concentrate on the task of making it to shore while carrying Samuel. As the salty water got into her eyes and nose, it obstructed her sight and hindered her breathing. The blood from David's cadaver had already attracted a nearby famished tiger shark. With every ounce of strength she had, she kicked and stroked against the water trying to make it to shore. Every wave that reached her continued to impede her efforts sometimes pulling her under the surface of the unforgiving briny blue, though they did slightly propel her closer to shore at times. The tiger shark's mastication of David's carcass brought out more massive amounts of blood, coloring the immediate area red while enticing more sharks to add to the feeding frenzy. Elaine did her best to ignore the intimidating fish, but couldn't help the fear that she had of the carnivorous marine life. She started feeling less fearful and more hopeful as she got closer and closer to shore. Unfortunately, that feeling faded away when she turned to see that the sharks had finished their meal and were following Samuel's trail of blood as it oozed out of the bullet wounds; indicating that they were still hungry and wanted Elaine and Samuel to satisfy their hunger. Her body began to produce adrenalin as the fight or flight mindset triggered when she couldn't depend on Samuel to save her life this time. Samuel was the one who depended on her this time. Thanks to the adrenalin, she couldn't feel her muscles tense up from fatigue or the recoil of the impact from falling off the cliff. Still with the drive to live she continued to swim to shore determined to prove David's claims about her wrong and return the favor to Samuel for saving her life, but most importantly, she wanted to prove to herself that not only is she a person worthwhile, but also that she is someone who can stand on her own, despite what others might say. On she swam to shore, it getting closer to her reach with every kick, push and stroke. The sharks continued on the scent of blood eager to sink their teeth into the savory meat that was producing the tempting scent. The sharks' dorsal fins cut through the water as they closed in ready to tear in to the two, but the water was becoming shallow, nearly too shallow for them to follow. Elaine's face lit up when she could start to feel the sandy ground underneath her as she started to walk as fast as she could on the submerged sand. Samuel was unaware of the danger his life was in as he was still unconscious from a combination of a hard impact and loss of blood. If he were awake, he would have been trying to convince Elaine to let him go so she would make it to shore safely implying to use his body as a decoy for the sharks. Elaine however would have been completely against the idea. She would have said that though it would have ensured her salvation, she would never be able to forgive herself if she were to do such a thing to anyone especially to him. After the incident that occurred in Samuel's house, after inspiring her to be a better person, after the positive influence he had in her life when all she had to look forward to was surviving another day, after the history they shared, she could never bring herself to discard his life the way her life was always getting rejected after she performed her trade. It would be as she told him earlier, she really wouldn't know what to do with herself if he wasn't in her life. Even if their relationship could just be described as friendly companions, Elaine would be happily content simply knowing that there is someone that cares about her. That is why she won't give up on him, because he never gave up on her. As she traveled as quickly as she could on the shoulder high water, she was relieved that the salt water had lessened Samuel's weight. Much to Elaine's dismay, she felt a bump on her side. Now in waist high water, Elaine was fervent to make it to the sandy beach and be done with this occurrence in her life. She felt another bump adding to her apprehension to the sharks. As she continued to reach shallower waters, another problem began to present itself. Samuel's weight started returning to normal with the salt water getting lower, slowing Elaine down. After an agonizing tread to knee high water, counting the height of the waves, she finally felt safe at last. One of the sharks wasn't going to let them go so easily. It risked capsizing on the beach and lunged at Elaine's left leg. Elaine let out a pain filled scream as the tiger shark bit down on her leg and attempted to drag her into a watery grave. Elaine instinctively threw Samuel as far as she could and he landed just outside the water's reach. After the struggle to survive this ordeal only to be done in by a fish, she couldn't accept that. She wasn't going to accept that. Elaine knew enough about the anatomy of a shark to know that the gills and the eyes were vulnerable areas. She made a grab for the gills and dug her nails into them while she viciously jabbed one of the shark's eyes. When the shark took five blows to the eye and had a gill torn, it had enough punishment and released her. Not wanting to deal with another stubborn fish she ran to Samuel's side and was relieved that he was still alive, but barely. The commotion from the explosions and Elaine's scream had attracted the attention of the nearby denizens. When they came to investigate they found Elaine and Samuel in dire need of medical attention. Wasting little time, an ambulance was called in. Elaine put pressure on Samuel's wound to minimize the blood loss while the paramedics arrived while ignoring her own injuries. Once the sounds of sirens came and the paramedics started doing their job, Elaine collapsed. She and Samuel were taken to the nearest hospital.*

-A few days later-

*Elaine and Samuel are sitting in an airplane, waiting for it to take off*

"I'm still in shock Elaine. I never would have thought you to be a better survivor than me. I must be the luckiest guy on the planet to be able to have you by my side."

"Samuel if it wasn't for your warning about the explosion, we would have ended up extra crispy."

"Maybe, but I owe my life to you three times over."

*The truth is that Samuel saved Elaine's life more times than he would ever realize*

"It's my way of thanking you for turning my life around and for helping me find my own strength."

"You think we should be worried about that bird like figure that attacked us?"

"Something tells me, that is the first and last time we will encounter whatever that was."

"I hope so. So who was your choice before things got out of hand?"

"The same person who didn't give up on me and saw me as someone worthwhile."

**BEHIND THE CROSS HAIRS**

"**Everything will be fine so long as we're together,**

**My world is perfect if you'd stay forever."**

**(? Pov)**

"Sir"

"Yes?"

"The team of two has returned."

"Bring them in."

Two poison types enter the room and the subordinate walks to the other side of the room to stay out of the way.

"Has target, Luis been dealt with?"

"No" answered one of the poison type Pokémon.

"Why hasn't he?" Said the second voice as his left hand began to glow a golden yellow.

"The target, Luis was with three other Pokémon when we found him. He was accompanied by a normal type, a psychic type, and one we have never encountered before. Considering the situation, we wouldn't have been able to accomplish the objective effectively" said one of the poison types.

"You didn't even make an attempt did you?" said the apparent leader in an annoyed tone.

"No"

The leader then, swung its left hand and a golden white spear instantly materialized and flew to one of the poison types at high velocity, impaling the poison type from the side of its face to the back wall.

"How should we fix this?"

Unnerved and shaky, the other poison type responded "We could use our full team of nine."

"No, eight should do just fine, the other is in Unova completing an assignment."

"Where was Luis last encountered?" asked the earlier subordinate while pulling out a large map of the Sinnoh region. The poison type pointed to an area roughly 3 miles away from their current location.

"I'll get the teleporter calibrated while you make your preparations."

"This time, I expect to see results." said the irritated leader.

The spear began to fade away, releasing the fainted poison type from the wall, not a scratch visible where the spear had pierced.

"Now clean yourselves up and inform the others."

The poison type made a slight glare before responding "Understood."

"Get out." Said the leader as its glowing hand began to power down.

After a few minutes, the eight had come to the room to be teleported to the spot where they were to continue with the objective that they had been presented with.

"One more thing, should you fail, I may have to reexamine your capabilities and our contract." said the leader.

"That won't be a problem. Should have known better than to send, inexperienced peons without supervision." Said one of the six apparent veterans.

"Use this to return once you have terminated Luis." The subordinate handed a small cube to the group of eight, then activated a wall mounted devise. It shot a light that opened up a circular portal and one by one they stepped in to be transported. When they left, the leader turned to address the subordinate.

"How's our aquatic experiment coming along?"

"It has immensely grown in size and it's also far more violent then what its species are known for, sir."

"You are dismissed"

The leader is now alone in the room.

"_Should they fail, they might make good fish food to that experiment. Nah, win or lose, that fish needs a good test run and they seem as good as any other prey for exercise or they might unknowingly be of use in disposing of that overgrown fish_." the leader chuckled to himself while returning to more mundane matters that eventually would have to be addressed.

**(Lisa's pov)**

I looked at the new guy, feeling uneasy and a little embarrassed, like when I would get caught trying my mother's make-up even though I knew it was off limits when I was younger. He looked at me with this expression that I couldn't figure out. It didn't look like he was angry with me, but he didn't look too pleased either. It could have been a look of confusion but I wasn't sure.

"You knew?" I asked telepathically.

Bad enough I got caught by him, I didn't want the others to know as well, I think that I might die of embarrassment especially if they get the wrong idea.

"Yes" answered Raphe.

I kind of like that nickname Daisy picked out for him. It suits his near intimating demeanor. Wait, he knew? That was his subconsciousness that I tried to break into. Just like how most can't remember their dreams or tell what they are subconsciously thinking about, he shouldn't be able to tell that I tried to break in.

"How?" I asked.

"You fell for the trap loop."

"OH" I said as a slight blush of embarrassment appeared on my face. It quickly disappeared when I suddenly realized something.

"Wait, how did you know to set it up before I was… well-?"

"Trying to sneak a peek?" he interrupted a bit rudely

"Well yea, but don't say it like that." I said a little offended.

"Why not?"

"It makes me sound a little devious." I said as I could barely see the corner of his beak crack in a slight smirk. What was he up to? Was he trying to get me to say something? Have some fun at my expense? Or is he just trying to change the subject? What's up wit-

"Is there something wrong with quirks?" his question caught me off guard. Probably because I couldn't tell what his intention was for asking that. UGH!

"Well" he continued

"There shouldn't be." I answered.

"Then why did you get offended with being called a little 'devious'?"

"I don't know. It just rubs me the wrong way. Hey! You ever going to tell me how you figured out I was-"

"Creepin and peepin?"

"OH stop it!" I saw him get another small smirk.

"You're having fun doing that, aren't you?" I said a little annoyed.

"What do you think?" I noticed that, I couldn't seem to read raphe's feeling as clearly as other living beings. When I first saw him, his emotions were blank. No anger, no fear, no joy or even surprise. I'm so used to reading one's thoughts and feelings at an instant, not because I'm trying to be rude or nosey. It's not really even my idea of fun…most of the time. I do it simply because it reassures me that what I do next isn't a mistake and get someone's feelings hurt or confused. So now that I have come across someone that I can't read, it both annoys me and sort of frightens me. There is something about him that intimidates me though I'm not sure what it is exactly. If Luis didn't trust him that way he does, I probably would have attacked him again this morning, so then why… why do I feel like there is a kind and gentle side to him when all I've seen so far is a sly, and serious fighter? It couldn't be because of the way my break in ended, could it? Just then I realized that the air around him wasn't as heavy as it was last night. I sighed when I noticed that he still hasn't told me what I wanted to know.

"Something wrong?" he asked.

"You haven't answered my question, you know."

He gave a small sigh before responding,

"Before I say, answer me why is it so important for you to know?"

"Well… I've come across many different kinds of Pokémon with their own different types of personalities. Out of them all, dark types can force me out and keep me out very easily, but they can't always detect me when I have made my way in. Other psychics have an easier time detecting me when I try to, well… find out more about them. They have a harder time forcing me out, but that's never stopped them from trying to protect themselves. They often turn their minds in to intricate puzzles. You are the first non-psychic to detect me and try to force me out." He chuckled a little at the end of what I explained.

"I don't know whether I should take that as a complement or not. Anyways, you know I could have forced you out if I really wanted to, right?"

I think I could start to feel a faint hint of friendliness coming firm him. I wonder if I could get more of it to come out.

"No way!" I blurted, though still telepathically.

"Don't believe me?"

"Well why didn't you then?"

"You were already in a trap loop."

"So?"

"You wouldn't have been able to actually see anything personal or accurate."

"I got close." I said though I'm fairly certain I was mistaken. Again he is ducking that question.

"No. as soon as you thought you were in, you were already caught in the trap loop."

"How is it a trap loop?"

"It's like a hallway that is doing a 180 degree turn in small increments that are too slow to notice. While you thought you were getting to the other end, you were really just going in one big circle."

"About that, you must have a twisted imagination to come up with such a dark and unsettling design for a 'trap loop'"

"Actually, I have no control over how it's experienced."

"Huh?"

"You heard me."

"I still think you can't force me out." I said with a little smirk of my own.

"Is that a challenge?"

"What do you think?" I said maybe a little playfully.

"Then go for it."

I looked at him for a moment while remembering the twisted hallway that I went through.

"No way." I finally said.

"K, why?"

"I don't want to end up mentally scared!"

"I'm giving you the green light to go in and try."

Even though I had his consent, it felt a little unnerving to go back in there.

"I don't know." I said.

"So… you are only brave in a lights off sort of way." he said.

"Huh!?"

"You didn't have a problem doing it when you weren't allowed."

"That was before I knew about that trap loop!"

"But now that you have my ok, I won't let it trigger."

I was still curious about whether he could so what he said he can, but I was-

"Princess" He said

"What was that?!"

"Hey if you are scared just say so."

I glared a little at him when he said that.

"I'm not."

"You sure?"

"Of course I am." I said as I could feel that very faint friendliness get slightly stronger.

"Then what's keeping you?"

I don't know how, but I suddenly got the urge to prove him wrong. I found myself using confusion to pick up a nearby pebble from the ground and held it in my hand. I focused my mind then I let go of the pebble and mentally went in Raphe's mind.

This time the scenery was still a little intimidating, but there was definitely something different. I just couldn't figure out what it was. The scenery was still that same grassy plain with the pillar in the crater and that wooden sign. That same question with the raised 'yes/no' was written on the wooden sign. I felt little more confident in tapping the 'yes' this time around.

My heart sank when the sign began to slowly disappear, just like last time. If that bridge shows up again I am leaving. When the sign completely disappeared, everything began to fade away, like dust being blown off of an old tea cup. Don't tell me I got caught in another trap loop.

What was left wasn't that grassy plain with the crater and the pillar at its center. The ground had a feel similar to a lightly polished crystal or maybe slightly rough glass and was white like snow in color. I was under a spotlight and that seemed to be that only source of light. The entire place was just dark and empty. I turned around to try and find…anything… at all, but it was just a dark void. As I looked around, still under the spotlight I began to get the weird feeling that I was being watched. With every second that passed that feeling kept getting stronger. A cold sweat ran down my cheek. I couldn't feel any emotion here, and yet there was a presence in here that I knew was analyzing every aspect of my being. I took a step toward the void. I began to wonder what kind of individual Raphe was by the way his mind seems to work. I've been inside of many minds before, each with their own unique traits that reflects the individual's personality. This was the first time I had encountered a dark void. I know that there is a reason for why one's mind would be a dark void. I just couldn't remember it. With another step towards the void, these thin yellow poles began to rise from the ground. At the top of each pole were these odd candles. The poles were spaced out like a grid. With another step I took, they lit up in a strange purple light. From the purple glow, the candles seemed to be black in color with; I think little red vertical stripes. I began to think that I may have gotten caught in another 'trap loop'.

"Found you" said a familiar voice.

I turned in the direction where it came from, under the spotlight stood raphe or at least the-

"Out you go" he said with a warm smile. Then he lifted his hand or the three claws at the end of his right wing and made a snapping sound with it. As it sounded, a black ring with a reddish edging shot from his claws and expanded throughout the area, like ripples in a pond. It came so fast. I barely had the time to blink. I didn't feel anything, no pain, and no push. I felt nothing at all from the rings.

I heard the sound of the pebble hitting the ground. When my eyes opened, I was back in my body.

"Want to try it again?" asked raphe in a sort of bored mood.

Without answering I tried it again. After the doing the bit with the sign, it was still that same dark place with the same white floor. This time however, the thin poles with the odd candles were already standing there.

"Hello"

I turned to the same voice as bef-

"Good bye" said raphe with the same dark expanding rings knocking me back to my body.

As I looked at him my stomach began to growl in hunger.

**(Combusken's pov)**

*Stomach growl*

"Hungry?" I asked Lisa.

"What do you think?" she said telepathically in a playful tone.

"Let's tell the others then." I said.

While we caught up with Daisy and Luis, I wondered what kind of personality Lisa had. At first she seemed like a strong and cunning girl, but then that little hug last night made me wonder what could cause someone to react in such a way while sleeping. Is she maybe that type that tries to be friends with everybody? I thought that when I remembered that she tried to say we had something in common earlier. Then she tried to break into my mind only to get caught in my trap loop. The intrusion was a bit rude but most mind reading psychics tend to do that; jerks. Like I told her, I don't have any control of what the experience is like once caught. From the psychic mind readers that have tried, they all seemed to be varying levels of fear. So I can only assume that it's disturbing and unpleasant. Ordinarily the ones that have tried to break in never want to try it again or go in at all, even with my ok. I could tell she was frightened by the ordeal. So I was surprised when not only did she, _not_ try to avoid me altogether, but also have a curiosity about it and me. I guess it was because of that, I let a little of my personality out for her, for now at least. Even with her playfulness, I could tell there was more to her then what these first impressions were implying. The same goes to Daisy, though I still wondered if Daisy was the type to hold a grudge, when I compared her to her two, I guess, more forgiving friends.

As Lisa informed the two about her empty stomach, I looked around wondering if there was a stream or a river nearby. Maybe a pond or lake could work as well for what I wanted to do, even though it is always an annoying task.

"Alright, so we are out of food and we aren't close enough to the village to continue comfortably" said Luis as I caught up to him and the others.

"Any ideas of what to do from here?" he asked us.

I picked up some of the soil, it was faintly moist and dark grayish. The trees had some moss growing off of them.

"There are apple trees growing nearby" I called out.

"You got that from the soil?" asked Luis.

Daisy had this look like she was analyzing me, looking for something, but I had no clue what it was.

"No, this type of tree grows in the same conditions as most apple trees and some other fruit bearing trees." I said referring to the tree we were standing under.

"I suggest we split up to cover more ground." I said as I picked a Y shaped stick.

"And meet back here after a while of searching" I said as I stabbed the stick in the ground.

"If we don't find anything?" asked a skeptical Daisy.

"Then I guess we'll have to suck it up and keep moving."

"Tsh. Best plan in the world." Daisy said rather sarcastically.

"Don't hear you coming up with anything better." I said. Daisy just glared at me as I glared right back.

"We'll give it a try for now" said Luis, I think trying to defuse the situation.

Daisy rolled her eyes as she broke the stare.

"Come on lets go." Lisa told Daisy as Lisa began to pull Daisy away to the east.

Luis went to the northwest. I went to the west where I was fairly sure I would find some body of water. As I walked, I looked around to make sure I wasn't being watched. Satisfied, I looked in my bag and found that other half of the Oran berry from the other night. That's the main reason I insisted on carrying Lisa. I needed her to hide the other half of it otherwise I wouldn't have picked her up at all. Still, I found it odd that carrying her was more enjoyable then I thought it would have been. A pleasing scent, soft skin and all the rest may have been why. I know I smelled her scent before, but what was it?

The sound of running water soon became audible. Then I came across a good sized stream, it was big enough that it may pass for a small river. The current looked rather strong. If I wasn't careful I could be swept away to where ever it goes, probably out to the ocean. If I had a rope maybe I could tie one end to tree and tether the other end to myself. I took a look at my bag's contents; the same two items were inside. My map and the other half of the Oran berry. While I looked them over something on the ground caught my attention. It was a small yellow lightly polished metal loosely shaped like an orb.

I honestly don't have any idea why humans and some Pokémon have would covet these metal pieces so much. It is just a type of metal right? So why is this type so popular in particular? I bet it is because it shines superficially. The humans and those same Pokémon also seem to covet other items that shine similarly. If they weren't both a good trading item and a universal currency, I would have no interest in keeping it. Just a waste of space in my bag really but maybe it will come in handy later.

A Wurmple happened to be crawling nearby. Hmm… as I walked up to it I wondered if it knows that move.

"Excuse me" I said to the Wurmple.

"Yes"

"Do you know the move 'string shot'?"

"Yea, Why?"

"I was wondering if you could make me a rope from it."

"I could, for a price."

'_Wrong answer_' I thought to myself.

"What do you want?" I asked.

"What kind of eats do you got?"

"Just this half of an Oran berry."

"That will do."

I pulled out the slice. The Wurmple then tried to eat it. I quickly pulled it away before it could.

"The rope comes first." I said as the Wurmple rolled its eyes before it spat out the silky rope I wanted.

When it was about the right length, I told it to stop.

"Here catch" I said as I tossed it over its head so it would take its eyes off me.

Right when it all most caught it, I used quick attack to snatch the Oran berry half back and in the same moment I kicked the Wurmple into the river. This was probably a bad habit of mine, I thought to myself when the Wurmple tried to save itself when it used its string shot to get back to land. Only the string shot had attached to an angry Gloom who pulled the Wurmple onto the land and close enough to raise a cloud of sleeping powder at the Wurmple. The Gloom then dragged it away into the forest, for what I didn't care. I chuckled at the Wurmple's bad luck.

After tying one end of the rope to a tree and the other end to myself, I tugged on it to make sure it was secure. Satisfied with the strength of the rope's knots and the rope itself, I went to the edge of the river. I lifted my foot and placed it in the water. I shuddered a little from the temperature. I lifted my other foot and started walking into the river.

I almost slipped a couple of times from the current and the loose mud on the floor that gave it a slimy feel similar to the oozy body of a Muk. The running water got up to my beak in depth. The water felt like it was peeling away at my feathers and skin, while little needles where stabbing away at me. At first it did anyway. Out of luck I happened to have found a group of rocks near the middle of the river. I stepped on top of them, drew out all the air I had in my lungs and then breathed in as deep as I could. I repeated this three more times before I drew in one final deep breath and then I sat down on the rocks with my eyes closed. For a while I sat there very uncomfortable as it slowly got more and more bearable. I stood up to breathe, then I sat back down and started rubbing myself, trying to get rid of any filth or any molted feathers.

By now, the running water was actually a little pleasant on my body. Instead of an acidic and piercing torrent, it now had more of the feel like that of a refreshing breeze of a summer day. I guess that meant it was time to get out. Don't want to catch salmonella or something. I stood up and began the walk back to shore. As I was walking, I slipped on the loose mud. The current started carrying me away until I felt a hard pressure on my chest and with it I noticed that I was being suspended in the running water.

I quickly remembered the rope that I had tied to myself. The force of the current and the rope I was tied to had carried me to the side wall of the river's edge or cliff. I lifted my wing to try to grab the cliff like land, but whatever I tried to latch on to, my claw kept sliding off of. I guess I couldn't get out like that. I decided to do the only other thing I could think of. I grabbed the rope and pulled on it. My sixth sense began acting up. I looked around, no bird shapes in the sky, nothing else on the land that could pose an immediate threat. As I was continuing to clime sideways with the rope, something had brushed up against my left leg. It made my sense almost burn a hole in my head by the mere touch. My pace of pulling sped up by the creeping thought that I was being considered as a meal by some predator. It tapped my chest and hip. Either it was a large snake-like hunter or there was more than one. Focusing would be so much easier if I knew what I was dealing with, but at the moment I couldn't decide what I should be more concerned with. Should I focus on my climbing technique so I could get out as fast as possible without accidentally cutting the silk rope, or focus on whatever had found me so I don't end up as something's lunch?

I was now around half way to the shore I had entered. As I continued to fight against the rushing water, I felt something run down my leg to my foot. I quickly made a grab for it with my foot. Whatever I had caught was slim and stiff. Not wanting to take any chances, I made my other foot grab it and using both in tandem; I forcefully bent and pulled at it. It tore into two pieces. I turned on my back, facing upwards and brought my feet up to the air to see what I caught, all the while I was still trying to pull myself to shore. I looked at what I had snapped in two, on my left foot was this three inch thick brownish line with some green water drop shapes that had vain like lines going across the individual shapes. On my right foot was just the other half of the brownish line. I was angered and relieved at the same time when I realized that a tree branch had caused me some paran-. I growled in annoyance when I saw a Carvanha falling right at me, with hunger evident in its scarlet eyes.

That must have been what set off my sixth sense. The savage fish opened its salivating jaws as it kept falling closer and closer with every moment that had passed. I felt something hard hit my left leg and without thinking, I made a grab for it with my right foot dropping the tree branch it once held. I lifted whatever I had caught with my right foot to the jaw of the Carvanha. It bit down hard on the rock that I had just jammed into its jaw. While it was confused by the rock in its mouth, I swung it over to the land beside me. As I did, the angered Carvanha bit with such strength that it destroyed the rock as if it were a fragile piece of porcelain. The Carvanha twisted and contorted its body in a desperate struggle to get back into the water. This gave the chance to turn forward on my stomach and continue on pulling myself against the violent current.

My stomach churned when I saw what was swimming towards me. Another two Carvanha had their sights set on me. I wondered how I was going to get out of this. While they were darting at me I noticed that the one on the right was ahead of the other one. Maybe if I time it just right…

The two savage fish opened their jaws readying a biting type of attack. That was perfect. Getting ready, I reached out my right wing and waited until the first one got in range. This would have to be precise considering water forces regular movement to slow down. I was certain it was in range when I saw their blood lust which was fueled by hunger and territorial aggression.

I lifted my wing and was able to grab on hard, to the fish's tail fin. I forced it up out of the surface of the water. These feisty fish weighed about the same as Lisa, maybe a little more. I then shoved this fish into the maw of the second, there they both bit down hard. For some reason I thought I saw the purple of their faces turn a reddish violet color before I threw the connected two over to the land. With those two gone maybe now I could be free to make it back to the shore I had entered from. I thought just a few more feet to go and finally be done with this unintended escapade.

I was around five feet away from the shallow entrance when my sixth sense went nuts. As I turned my head around, chills ran down my spine by what I saw swimming towards me and not because of the cold water. I turned to look forward and pulled and climbed faster on the rope. My claws felt like they were going to fall off from all the forceful pulling, but I ignored it. The alterative of continuing on this exhausting speed was too horrific to even conceder. As I continued to shore, they kept getting closer and closer. The force of the current did very little to slow down these savage hunters. I did what I could to pull myself to safety, but the energy I burnt up from this misfortune, along with the current of water draining away at what I had left, made me start to have some doubts that I would make it out alive. I continued nonetheless and was able to reach the corner of the little cliff like wall signaling that the shore was just ahead. I placed my left claw on the corner of the cliff like wall, trying to get out of the current. To my dismay, one of the Carvanha was able to come out of the surface of the water and cut my tether with its sharp teeth. Without my tether I was almost washed away to be the next snack of the school of Carvanha that continued its advance towards me. However I was able to grab the same Carvanha that just cut my rope, by the tail fin and ram its jaws into the edge of the cliff. Its rough skin is very easy to grip, so long as you can endure the pain that comes with even touching it. It kind of feels like it is scraping away your flesh. Ignoring the stinging of it, I pulled myself away from the current using the fish like an anchor.

Finally, I was out of the current so I threw the fish back into the river. My sixth sense began ringing again not two steps later. I turned around and saw the same Carvanha leaping at me. Annoying little jerk, it's lucky I'm not in the mood for fish sticks! I took careful aim and punched it into the dry land with a left hook.

"Punch a fish to make a wish." I said to myself.

"You're not funny!" cried the Carvanha.

What a killjoy. The calm water of the small shore acted flat enough to work like a sort of mirror. If Luis, Lisa and Daisy where to see me like this I'm fairly certain that they would laugh at me at first, before getting curious about the many scars on my skin. I have always found it interesting that soaking wet feathers tend to get very thin. Then when they dry off, they spread themselves covering up my skin and hiding my skin color, my scars, and anything else on me. Out of all the scars I have, there are three that still haunt me every time I see them.

The first is on my neck. It is about two inches thick and it goes all around my neck just like the collar that inflected it. For most, a collar is thought of as a band made of varying materials to be used with a leash. The purpose of such a creation is mainly controlling whatever is wearing the collar. A more difficult to obtain variant, is commonly referred to as a shock collar. It can commonly function two different ways; by remote or proximity. The remote method needs a simple press of a button to activate and the proximity just needs a certain amount of distance between the collar and a signaling devise to activate. When either of these conditions is met to their respective variant, it does what its name suggests. It sends painful amounts of electricity to whoever is wearing the collar. I would have been delighted to have had either if those around my neck instead of the collar I was forced to wear; that caused the scar on my neck.

It was a twisted little devise, the technology used to make it allowed it to function like the before mentioned and do more sinister things. That collar of mine and other variants could shrink in size in order to strangle, and shock or heat up to fatal degrees depending on a Pokémon's type. Those little "features" are nothing compared to the sick surprise each collar does if the one wearing it strays too far the area. The vile contraptions explode violently. Though I try to forget about the time I was captured and thrown in to a place that was referred to as, "The Arena" seeing the scar on my neck always rushes those memories back, despite how hard I try to forget about it. The "Arena" itself is what is what the name suggests it is. However the battles that take place at the "Arena" are actually struggles for the right to continue drawing breath from this earth. The cruelty that humans are capable of is one of the few things that still terrify me. Maybe what appalls me the most is the fact that those bloodbaths, were little more than entertainment for the humans. I have been in seven matches. The first four however, I honestly don't remember "winning" because the first four I actually blacked out in, the weirdest part was how I blacked out. Ordinarily when I do blackout everything just quickly goes black, but in those times the outer sides of my eyesight seemed to be dissolving in what appeared to be a blackish purple fire all the while, a creepy laughter keeps getting louder and louder as the dark fire engulfs my vision before everything goes quiet and dark. I would then wake up in the small cage that served as my bed, living quarters, dining room and my "toilet" as the humans called it. There were terrible repercussions should the Pokémon in these fights refuse to fight or "finish up" whether they were able to or not. Well at least the "Arena" has been destroyed.

I looked at my right wing trying to change my train of thought. There was another of the three scars, what distinguishes this one from the other two is its appearance. It didn't look like skin that repaired itself from a gash. It kind of looks like the number eight or an odd X, formed by what appears to be four water drops heading toward one another from four different directions. Also the scar itself looks as a discoloration of a light gray.

The ones who destroyed the "Arena" were a group of mercenaries. While they did obliterate the sadistic structure, its founder could have created another one. A Lucario I had befriended named Lucas, helped me track him down and we both made sure that he will never lay eyes on the living ever again. Lucas and I joined the band of mercenaries, believing them to be righteous heroes. Looking back I find it funny how horrendous the truth can be. They weren't the Heroes Lucas and I thought them to be, but they weren't completely greedy, hot headed puppets either. The loyalties of the mercenaries weren't at all strong as their loyalty could shift, should someone out pay their original client. However should their services be bought with an added hefty fee of a contract, they show an unbreakable loyalty, until their assignment has been completed. During one of the assignments that Lucas and I were given, we were supposed to obtain a certain brief case. At the time I thought that it contained valuable documents as the client wouldn't say what was in it or why it was so important. What that case contained, most wouldn't believe me when I tell them so just keep it to myself. Lucas is the only one who also saw it too so he's the only one to this day who believes what that case contained.

For most, evolution occurs when their bodies have adapted to the combat of an opponent. As such, when a Pokémon experiences the sudden rush of new found core strength, we reach one step closer to growing toward a new form that makes the best use of this core strength. The humans referred to this process as 'leveling up'. Kind of a bland way to put it. The devise that was in that case made me wonder how much of that I actually had right.

While on an assignment with Lucas, believe it or not, I had evolved into a Blaziken. When we finally did reach the target with the case, our targeted human opened up the case and took out an odd white metallic glove-like claw that reached all the way to the human's shoulder. It had a sort of cyan colored orb on the back of the palm on the glove-like claw. Since we weren't given any sort of information as to what that claw thing was, we both assumed that it was a contraption that enhances the natural ability of the limb that controls it. It was only when I moved in the way to shove Lucas out of the way that we realized what it was.

It grabbed me on my right arm. As much as I tried to pry it off the more it clamped down on my arm, but that was the least of my worries. The orb on the back of the palm of the claw began to glow. My body felt weaker and weaker with every moment that the contraption stayed on my arm. After a short while, my body became cloaked in light and I began to shrink. It was only when Lucas came to my aid that the contraption finally let go of me, but the damage had already been done. The scar was now forever, a part of my flesh and I had been devolved to a Combusken.

As the human stumbled back to its feet the claw like contraption opened at its side and released a small cyan cylinder with a hiss of steam or gas. When the human saw Lucas come to my aid, it tried to make its escape. Had the human been facing different pursuers that may have given it the chance to elude us, but the mind-set for a member of the mercenaries is different when trying to complete an assignment. The means don't matter, the results do.

Lucas then abandoned me and used extreme speed to catch the human and subdue it. Only after that, had our objective been cleared. Lucas then returned to make sure I was ok. I wasn't hurt too severely; I was really just in shock that I had been turned in to a Combusken shortly after evolving.

It wasn't our job to ask questions. It wasn't our job get emotionally involved. It wasn't our job to even care. The only thing that ultimately mattered was the completion of our assignment. Looking back, I probably wasn't the best fit to be the most effective mercenary because I was the one that most frequently did what the job didn't call for. Like for that one, I had questions about that contraption. Things like what was that thing, why would anyone desire such a thing, for what purpose was such a thing created, how was the thing created and why did it leave this mark on my wing. There was one question I had answered though. The cyan cylinder was a container that held rare candies.

When I tried to ingest them however, a Staravia just happened to swoop in and steal them away.

Those three…

I was too emotionally attached to Lucas that it clouded my decisions. Instead of shoving Lucas I should have shoved the human. Maybe then I could have avoided getting this scar. Had I not been so shaken by the experience, I wouldn't have hesitated to eat those rare candies to evolve back into a Blaziken. The only thing I did or I guess fail to do that kept me from being a total failure of a mercenary was care.

No matter how many lives I have twisted, no matter how many lives I have ruined, no matter whose life I had taken, places I have destroyed, things I have stolen, or how horrendous the job, I couldn't care less. I didn't do the jobs for the thrill, nor for the recognition. I didn't care too much for the money, so long as I had enough to live on in order to pay for food and basic living arrangements, I didn't argue the amount so profusely. I think the only reason I bothered sticking around was it gave me a sense of purpose. I only left the group when a Zoroark convinced me to start caring again or at least care a little more. Unfortunately resigning was rather complicated. Long story short, what is left of the group is under new management, if it is still active.

I turned my back towards the still calm and flat shore. The last of the three scars was on my back. One look and I turned away from it, shuddering from the mere memory of how I had gotten it. A flash of beaked face with glowing red eyes appeared and I shuddered once more. I guess after all this time I still can't get over how I got that scar. That was enough unpleasant reminiscing for one day, so I shot flames to the ground beneath me while turning around. The heat from my flames quickly evaporated the water and the moisture on my body. I could have just super-heated my body to get the same drying effect with less pain, but I have always preferred this method for being quicker and it does give my feathers a particularly better gloss.

Once fully dry my feathers had widened themselves and effectively hid my scars form view. Concealing the evidence of the type of life I had led.

"There you are! You are not getting away from me this time!" yelled out a human voice.

"You had your chance, it's my turn now!" Cried another human.

**(Daisy's pov) –Some other part of the forest-**

"Remind me again why you can't just teleport us home?" I had asked Lisa.

"I thought I told you already, the distance is too far for me to teleport just me to the village without getting severe headaches. Let alone us four altogether!" I huffed at her explanation.

"Besides, I thought you said you like strolling around the country side." She had said.

"I do! It's just; I wasn't expecting Luis to have befriended one of them…"

"Them? You mean Chris?"

"Yeah, his kind."

"Is that why you are somewhat rude to him?"

"Yep"

"I still find it a little odd that you don't treat Luis the same way, since he is of the same kind."

"Come on, you know that it is because I was already friends with him before _that happened._"

"That's not what I was getting at, Daisy."

"Mmm?"

"What I meant was that even after…well… _that _happened you still continue to treat Luis the same as before like it never happened."

"And?"

"I just think that most would have some kind of grudge on Luis, if they were in your position. So I think that it is rather courteous of you that you didn't let your sorrow or anger, affect your attitude towards Luis, that's all." Lisa had a smile when she said that. I had shown her what happened from my memories with the help of her psychic powers. I still don't understand why she doesn't have the same distrust or anger as I do towards them.

"So how have you been holding up?"

"With what?" she had asked me.

"You know, since they have been gone." Her face lost its smile.

"It has been hard adjusting to their absence. Of course they do leave me alone at times and often give me a lot of busy work so I don't have the time to notice that they aren't around, but how could I not notice them gone when they are so lively when they are home. I won't lie, I miss them; there are days when I would fool myself into thinking that they will randomly return on that day. Only to have waited the entire day and have no sign of their return. Sometimes I get jealous of you because you don't seem to be affected the absence of your own and that adds to the weight I have to bare. Well at least we aren't completely alone. We still have Luis, Carly and each other to ease the loneliness right?" I smiled at her response. I wonder if she is in the mood to handle being teased, if just to keep her from being gloomy.

"Yeah, we do; and don't forget that new boyfriend of yours."

"HUH!?"

"Admit it you have a thing for him don't you?"

"No! I barely met Chris or Raphe as you like to call him. Where did you get that idea anyways?" Lisa questioned as I could barely see a bit of pink show on her face. I smiled.

"I never said Chris. Seems like you already choose him huh?" The pink on Lisa's face grew a brighter shade when I said that.

"I haven't even choose him for that! Besides, I fought with him already so I don't think that it works that way."

"Well you didn't seem at all mad this morning when he openly confessed to knocking us out."

"First of all it was a bit of a tie. While he did defeat me, I was able to knock him out as well."

"You are such a liar." I said with a little smirk.

"Oh so you don't think there is a reason why I am a Kirlia now?"

"I had assumed that the private time you had with Raphe was all you really needed to grow into your new form so you could be some pleasing eye candy to your feathered mate."

"Eye candy?" she burst into laughter, which caught me by surprise because I was expecting her to blush at what I had said.

"Secondly anyway, you know as well as I do that we brought it on ourselves. More you then me, I mean did you honestly never stop to think that eventually one of your 'ideas' would backfire? And I should have expected something like what happened last night when Raphe saw us coming."

"Aww. Now you're defending him! Already you're acting like his girlfriend." it took me a second, but I caught some more pink show on her face when she sighed and shook her head in, I think annoyance.

"You know, if I didn't know better, I'd say you wanted some more alone time with him when you practically rushed to his side when we started heading towards home." I said really only exaggerating her actions. Though I think I may have been on to something when her eyes widened.

"I was just trying to be friendly and I'll admit that I may have been a little curious about Raphe." I giggled at that.

"Curious if he's the **one** for you?" I giggled more while she glared at me.

"Oh nothing like that, besides I figured you wanted that alone time to be with Luis."

"What?" My giggling stopped.

"You said it yourself out loud, 'OH how I **adore** that **charming** monkey face of **Luis** whenever I flirt with him-'"

"Now hold on! I never said it like that!" I interrupted.

"And yet you continue to fool around with him. It's no wonder he is the only one of his type you are nice to. Are you planning on starting a family with him?"

The horrid image of me trying to fix dinner for six either red or brown colored creatures, with either short flaming tails or long hairy ones with mangled teeth, disproportional limbs unique to each one, some flappy others overly muscular, their ears are varying sizes, and what I can't tell to be hands or paws. All the while they are chanting 'more food, more food' over and over as they pound on the dinner table together. Just as I'm about to turn and run away from these horrifying mutants, Luis comes in and yells something that makes this so much worse.

"I WANT MORE BABIES!"

I shuddered at the mentally scaring image. Lisa had a smirk on her face the whole while and the bright pink had disappeared, making her look quite triumphant complete with her hands on her hips.

"Not much fun when you're the victim is it?" Lisa glared at me when she said that still with that sly smirk and I glared right back. Five uncomfortable seconds had gone by.

Then we both blew a raspberry in unison before having a fit of the giggles. I was glad that she wasn't going to be in a gloomy mood anymore. After having spent like five minutes trying to calm down, we finally hugged it out before returning to wander around.

"Oh Daisy, have a look at what I found!" she called out as we had continued our search for a good snack.

When I caught up, I found her looking up at a tree. Upon closer inspection I had identified the tree to be a good sized apple tree.

"Nice. You found us a bite to eat." I said wondering how the heck we were going to get the ripe apples down. When I tried jumping as high as I could, the only apples I could reach were the small and bitter unripen ones.

I looked over to Lisa, she nodded and I thought that she was going to use her confusion move to grab some off the tree. Instead she did something that both amazed me and disturbed me for reasons that I don't really understand.

She lifted one of her arms opened handed and a sort of ring like light appeared while her eyes glowed. Then she lifted her other arm, again open handed and another ring like light appeared. She moved her hands closer together and the two rings moved, one on top of the other close, but not close enough to touch. She straighten her fingers upwards and the rings rose up over the unripen apples. While bending her fingers and moving her hands, she navigated the two rings over to a good sized apple. When the apple was fed into the middle of the upper ring, I was sure it had started to vibrate before disappearing, then reappearing underneath the lower ring. When the two rings made it to the stem of the apple, Lisa closed her hands and brought down her arms. In doing so the rings shrank and vanished and the apple came falling down. She put her hands on the sides of her head and she let out a little moan as she rubbed her head. I would have asked her if she was ok, but I didn't want a 'Wa-wa-Waa' moment, if the apple were to splatter on the ground after all that Lisa apparently went through just for one apple. Before I could even get into position to catch it, Lisa's eyes began to glow and the apple shined an azure color and it gently floated to my paws.

"You ok Lisa?" I asked still a little disturbed and in awe.

"Yea, I guess I'm still not strong enough to really use that."

"So that, those rings… when did you learn to do that?"

"Just a little thing I have been working on."

"It doesn't seem like a 'little' thing" I said as I placed my paw on the side of her head.

"You sure you're ok?"

"Yea, just a little head ache pain. It's nothing to worry about, I'm already feeling better." She responded as her face brightened.

"If you say so. Maybe you should be the first to eat an apple." I said as I handed her the apple.

When she took it I began to wonder how we were going to get more of the apples. This is the only apple tree we have come across. I wasn't _that_ hungry, just a bit concerned for Lisa.

"What about you?" she asked me.

"I think you need it more than me."

"Doesn't seem right for me to take the first bite."

*stomach growl*

"Thank you for proving my point. Besides there are more apples on the tree, I don't mind waiting to get my own apple." She smiled at what I said.

Her eyes and the apple began to glow that familiar azure color. What is she up to now?

She placed her hand on the apple then easily pulled half of the apple clean off, as if it had already been cut.

"Here" She said offering me half of the apple.

"Heh-heh, fine." I said taking the apple and then we both began eating our halves. Afterword, I asked her how we could get more apples suggesting that maybe I should try to climb the tree, to which she lifted her right hand and her eyes glowed. I looked up and some of the ripened apples began glowing. She then pulled her hand down and the apples came down off the tree and into my paws.

"Do you think this will be enough?" she asked me as I counted the apples.

"Yea, there is enough here. One for you, one for Luis, two for me, and none for Raphe."

"Everyone should get one, Daisy." I looked at her.

"My ear still hurts form when he pulled it, to throw me into that ball shaped confusion attack you like to use."

"Fine, we'll give him the smallest one, does that work for you?" I rolled my eyes at that.

"I guess it does."

"You are such a downer."

"Oh Whatever!"

Lisa and I then decided to head back to that part of the forest with the Y shaped stick that he placed in the ground. Wonder if she will teleport us there?

**(Combusken's pov) -Back near the river-**

I looked around but couldn't find the humans. Hmm… "This time" I guess it's safe to say they aren't after me. I wonder what unlucky sap is getting chased around by two humans. It's not any of my business so I decided on ignoring it. The bushes began to rustle. Then a grey shadow popped out. It walked on all fours before stopping in front of me. It observed every part of my body as it walked around me to get every detail, it felt a little awkward.

"Hope you don't mind, but I'm going to use you for a minute." Said the fox like Pokémon with a feminine voice.

Well then she better prepare herself for the consequences if I don't like what she does. She then hopped in the air and was cloaked in a purplish light. When she landed and the light was gone, she stood on two legs and her form changed…drastically. She looked exactly like me, feathers, color and size. Everything, though I wondered if she copied my scars too.

"I saw it come through here."

"Where?"

"Over the bushes. Come On!"

Not a second later did two humans jump over the bushes. They were, maybe about twice my height. One had on a black shirt, fingerless gloves, blue pants and dark blue shoes. The other had on a white shirt, a brown vest, tannish pants and black shoes. Clothes as they call the modified plant material, often the cotton plant and sometimes synthetic materials. I always wondered why they chose to wear clothes at all. It seems inconvenient to use those things as they aren't really part of their bodies in any way. Humans…

"Where did it go!?"

"Do you think that it could have changed its form again?"

"What are Combusken doing here?" The disguised fox took a step behind me as the two humans set their gaze on us.

"Could they belong to a trainer nearby?"

"Combusken huh?" one of the humans pulled out a small hand held device and pointed it at one of us.

**Combusken, no data available.**

"Hmm. It must not be a native of Sinnoh or Unova, try yours."

"Ok"

Then the other human pulled out a different looking hand device and pointed it at me.

**Combusken, the young fowl Pokémon. Combusken will defend itself by blasting searing hot fire from its beak. Its mastery of kicking enables it to throw ten kicks per second.**

**No data available.**

"Huh? But it just read data on the Combusken, why doesn't it have data on the other? Try yours."

**Zorua the trick fox Pokémon. Zorua can change the way it looks to allow it the opportunity to trick foes and pursues in order to make its escape.**

"I knew it! One of those is the Zorua!" one human cheered as we kept trying to switch position with each other.

"But which is which? They both look the same I keep losing track of who's who."

Uh-oh, I don't like where this is going. I took a look at my surroundings, running won't really help if they have been chasing the Zorua and the river is still full of Carvanha so that won't work. Maybe I can use the trees! Rrgg! and do what, run? I don't really know the abilities this Zorua so using her as bait could have disastrous results.

"I know! Let's battle them both; eventually the Zorua's illusion will break in the heat of battle."

"Good idea." On that exchange, they both started to pull their own red and white ball shaped capsule devices.

Pokéballs.

There goes my window of escape. How do I solve this! I turned my head to the left, getting ready to run as I couldn't think of anything better. I looked down to be sure of the ground so I don't trip on something, but I saw something on the ground that made me change plans.

As I made a grab for the two rocks that I saw on the ground, I rehearsed my idea for the actions that will take care of the two humans. One misplaced move or a miss, is all that it will take to not only ruin this, but maybe also convince the two humans to send out all of their Pokémon at Zorua and me.

**(3****rd**** Person pov)**

The Combusken threw both rocks and ran towards the humans. Before the humans could active the Pokéballs' release mechanism, the two rocks landed flush on the wrists of the humans knocking the capturing tools out of the humans' hands. Now that the attention of the two humans has been scrambled, the Combusken used its quick attack to appear to vanish.

The Zorua used this momentary distraction to rush towards the nearby bushes. The Combusken appeared in between the two humans from behind, at that moment the Zorua concealed herself in the bushes while changing her disguise into that of a Bellsprout to help camouflage her from everyone. From the safety of the bushes the Zorua had an opportune spot to view what the Combusken would have planned and if necessary, help by shooting some long range attacks at the ground in order to provide cover for the Combusken should things go awry.

The Combusken kicked the back of the left knee of the human standing to his right. As that human fell to his knee, yelping in pain and surprise, the Combusken spun to right. The Combusken lowered his own knee while still spinning, then forced it up against the right knee of the human standing to the left. That forced the human's knee up into the air for just long enough for the Combusken to shoulder-shove this human off balance. With this human momentarily dazed, the Combusken returned his attention to the human standing to his right. As the human started to rise up to his feet, the Combusken rushed over to the human while placing his left claw into his own bag. The Combusken then hopped on the lowered knee of the human and wrapped his right wing around the neck of the human. With his right wing still wrapped around the human's neck, he hopped off the human's knee and began swinging around the human's neck. As he was arcing around the human's neck, he brought his claw out of his bag with the object he was going to need. The Combusken swung his left claw and one of the ropes slithered across the air before wrapping around the neck to the other dazed human. When it looped around the human's neck to form two loops, the Combusken jerked hard on the rope. The roped human was yanked in the direction of the Combusken before the rope unwrapped itself as it didn't have any weight on the end to keep it tangled around the neck. The Combusken brought his legs up at the human as he was tripping over. Just before the dazed human could get his act together, the Combusken placed his left leg under the dazed human's chin and placed his right leg at the back of the humans head, in a perfect scissor lock. The Combusken then jerked his upper body back and his legs to the right, causing the human in his right wing to fall on top of him, while the facing the sky, and the human in his legs to fall facing the dirt. The Zorua watched the fast spectacle unfold in front of her from the safety of the shadowy bushes.

"I wish I had some popcorn to enjoy this with." Said the excited little fox as she griped the ground beneath her paws in frantic anticipation.

The humans groaned as they felt the crash form their fall. Quickly the Combusken placed the palm of his clawed left wing on the back of the human's head to give his right wing more leverage to squeeze on this human's neck, who now began to notice the wing around his neck. As the human tried to pry the Combusken's wing off of his neck, the Combusken had already placed the claws of his right wing on the forearm of his left wing.

"Gggrr… let…us… gah… go… p. please…" both humans begged, fearing for their lives. Their pleas however, would be denied. The Combusken had begun squeezing on the human's neck with his wings and had also tighten the scissor lock. The energy the humans once had faded away and they both slowly began to lose consciousness. Before long the humans stopped struggling altogether. At this, the Combusken released his holds on them and placed the human he held in his wings on the ground. After the Combusken got back on his feet, he placed a claw under the nose of the face up human for five seconds. Content with his little examination, he got up and walked to the face down human wondering if this one would produce the same result as the first one. He did the same thing to this human, placing a claw underneath the human's nose checking for something before he turned the human's head to the side so the human could breathe more easily. Both humans were alive, but unconscious.

"Really? Over so soon?" said the Bellsprout disguised Zorua. The Combusken observed the Bellsprout with suspicion. For reasons he couldn't yet understand, his gaze was focused on the eyes. Though he hasn't seen too any Bellsprout to know what he was looking for, the Combusken was sure there was something different about this one in particular. It then giggled with a little smirk before hopping into the air back flipping while doing so. At the height of its jump, it became enveloped in purplish light. The form that landed was the same fox form earlier.

"You again…"

"Uh-huh" Responded the smiling Zorua.

"Thought you left."

"I thought you were going to." Said the Zorua as it playfully gave the Combusken a light shove.

"I could have, but I thought it would be better this way."

"So did you… well 'finish' them off?" she said while poking one of the humans with a stick.

"No" said the Combusken as he went through the belongings of one the humans.

"What are you doing?"

"Checking for anything of use, mainly food."

"Well that's a first for me."

"What is?"

"Seeing a Pokémon attack and steal from a human."

"Mmm"

"You don't feel bad doing that?"

"You don't resent me for that?"

The Zorua gave a smile.

"Nope. So do you feel bad?"

"Not in the least." The Zorua became more interested in the Combusken by his answer.

"Why is that?"

A few of the memories from the arena and the mercenary life flashed in the Combusken's head by the Zorua's question.

"I don't value the life of a human any more then I value the life of a Pokémon. Let's just leave it at that."

The Zorua tilted her head as she began to ponder how or why one would say that type of answer.

"So did you find anything of interest?"

"Nothing so far. Just the usual junk: potions, medicine in weird containers, unused Pokéballs and a few evolutionary stones."

"Nothing you want then?"

"Nothing so far." said the Combusken as he began checking the berry pouch in the human's back pack.

"Is there something you wanted?" the Combusken asked as the Zorua checked other human's back pack.

"I'm not really running low on anything, but tell me if you find any spices"

"Fine" he called out.

Though the Zorua wasn't looking for one, she found a healing berry she felt strongly was going to come in handy later.

"_Hmm, there is nothing here._" The Combusken said to himself.

"_I wonder why he has so many evolutionary stones with him_." He continued.

The Combusken then checked the main compartment of the human's bag. As he went through the various assortment of things, he found digging tools.

"_I suppose that explains it_" he quietly said to himself.

Seeing the tools, he remembered that in Sinnoh most people can use these tools to head underground and either play with others, trade things with others, and dig for items in the walls. Some of the items that can be found in the underground walls are evolutionary stones.

"_I wonder how many of these stones came from underground_." He said to himself.

Seeing a half-eaten sandwich wrapped in clear plastic reminded him that he was looking for food. He took the sandwich as that appeared to be the only food this human had with him. He got up and began to walk over to the Zorua.

"Did you find anything of interest?" the Combusken asked the Zorua.

"Well this human is carrying some good- OH! I think I found something you are going to like!" the Combusken hurried over.

The Zorua was tugging at a red plastic mesh bag with her maw. Seeing her try to pull on it was something the Combusken would dare to describe as cute, but would rather keep that to himself. He barely knows her after all.

"Need help?" he asked her.

"I gaht tit." She said as the Combusken cracked a little smile, amused by the speech impediment brought on by the mesh bag. As he reached her, she finally pulled the bag out. It contained about 20 apples. The Combusken pulled out five of the largest ones and offered one to the Zorua who pulled a small brown leather like bag that was hidden under the scarf like fur around her neck. She then tucked the apple in the bag.

"Thank you."

"So what do I call you?" The Zorua asked the Combusken.

"It's typically polite to give your own name first before asking someone their name, you know."

"Fair enough, my name is Suzanne."

"Susanne?"

"No, not Susanne. It's pronounced Sue-Zane." The Combusken nodded in understanding.

"So Suzanne."

"Yea that's right."

With that the Combusken proceeded to go on his way back to the spot with the Y shaped stick he had place in the forest.

"Hey! Where do you think you're going?!" The Zorua cried out as the Combusken began to leave.

"Why should I tell you?"

"After telling me about politeness, you don't even bother to tell me your name. That's rude!"

*sigh*

"Fine. I go by Chris, but my companions have recently nicknamed me Raphe."

"OK, but what do you prefer to be called?"

"Either is fine with me."

'_Either_? _I go by_?' "_He didn't really want to tell me his name either. It can't be a coincidence could it? I wonder if those are really just aliases if it isn't just a coincidence that he did those odd mannerisms_" thought the Zorua, as she paid a closer attention to the Combusken's behavior.

"Hmm… I take it that neither of the two is your real name, just aliases that you go by."

The Combusken's eyes twitched slightly out of shock by Suzanne's insinuation as he began to become suspicious and a little threaten by the little grey fox. Suzanne tilted her head wondering what was going through the Combusken's mind when he didn't respond right away, then she thought that maybe he had his reasons for keeping his name, his _real_ name a secret even with his companions, assuming that what he said about being nicknamed is true.

"I'll call you Raphe for now, since you seem to me more like a Raphe then a Chris. You don't have to tell me your real name if you don't want to, though I would like to know it one day." She said a little sad, but hopeful that maybe when he trusts her more he'll be more open with her.

The Combusken said nothing to Suzanne after hearing what she had to say about his name, and for a while neither of the two said anything to the other; they just stood there gazing at their new acquaintance. A warm breeze blew on by, causing the trees and the nearby bushes to rustle and shake loose some of their leaves, allowing them to seemingly dance with twirls, spins and form moving shapes all in the flow of the wind; all throughout the forest and around the two Pokémon. A rare moment that seemed to induce a state of relaxation for the two. At the serene moment, the Combusken took the time to examine the appearance of this little fox named Suzanne.

The majority of her fur was colored in a particular grey, that some could argue to be more of a black then a grey. As the wind blew, her fur flowed with the breeze suggesting that her fur was actually soft and maybe fleecy. The part around her neck seemed to be a scarf that points to the right at first, but as the warm breeze passed through it, it flowed in the same manner as the rest of her fur revealing the many hair strands that make it up as they separated and grouped. When the Combusken took a look at her paws, he saw that they were red, unlike the majority of her fur. The Combusken shifted his gaze for a slight second to get a look at her tail. It was an interesting thing as it looked like a grey fire while Suzanne waved it about. The Combusken didn't want to take too long looking at it because there are some who would think it 'pervy' to look at someone's tail, even though it's far more so to look at someone's rear and he didn't really want to be considered as a sexual miscreant. He then started looking at the Zorua's face. Out of all her facial features, her eye lids caught his attention first. He was barely able to catch it when she blinked. They weren't grey, they were red like her paws and her eyebrows. Then he came her eyes, they looked dark blue with some hints of hazel here and there which gave them the appearance that they had a sparkle-like effect. Her eyebrows were the first of their kind that he has seen as they didn't look like two straight lines, they were actually red and oval. As he looked at the top of her head, he saw that she has what appeared to be a form of a hair style. It was grey at the base then mostly became red all the way to the tips. The fluffy water drop shape made it look like the fire of a candle. At the sides of her hair, were her triangular grey ears. All in all, Suzanne was actually quite pretty in the Combusken's mind, though he still wasn't about to say it to her face just yet, or was he?

The Combusken took a step towards the Zorua, when an odd bursting sound became audible. When both of the two Pokémon turned to the direction of the sound, they saw one of the Pokéballs that one of the humans dropped had opened, releasing a bright light that eventually took the shape of a disproportionate humanoid. When the light from the Pokéball subsided the form turned out to be a Gallade. It stared at the Combusken and the Zorua in confusion. Was he to battle these two? Or maybe be a translator and convey the thoughts of the Pokémon and his human. No order was given to the Gallade which was weird for him as his human rarely called him out for no reason. As he continued to pander what he was supposed to do, it finally hit the Gallade that his human's emotional force was very faint. Alarmed by it, he scrambled to find his human. Only to find him on the floor along with his companion, both unconscious.

"What happened here?" asked the frantic Gallade.

"I don't really know." The Combusken lied.

"Then what are you doing here?" the Gallade asked suspicious of the Combusken and the Zorua.

"I just happened to have come across them this way. I just assumed that they were napping." Answered the Combusken.

"And what about you?" The Gallade asked the Zorua as he ran to his human's side.

She thought about telling the truth right then and there, but wondered if she did would the Gallade turn on her and Raphe? And if she didn't what would be the chances and repercussions of getting caught?

"That's not important now. If your human needs help then you shouldn't be wasting your time questioning us. You really should be more focused on helping it." The Zorua finally responded.

"You're right." Responded the Gallade annoyed by their lack of urgency.

"So what are you going to do to help your human?" asked the Zorua slightly bitterly.

"I'm going to use heal pulse. Maybe that will wake him up so he can explain what happened" said the Gallade as the Combusken walked around trying to find the Pokéball that released this Gallade.

"Why is it so important to you?" asked the Zorua.

"_He_ has a name. It's Matthew. He is not _only_ my human, but my _friend_ as well. I'd appreciate it if you could show at least some respect. That goes to you too." The stern Gallade said to the Zorua and the Combusken.

"Yea yea, don't bust an artery." The Combusken said to the Gallade who let out a low growl due to the Combusken's comment.

'_Seems like he's just unconscious, what could have happened to Matthew? It's not like him or John to just fall asleep on the middle of a path_.' The concerned Gallade thought to himself as he got to his human's side and began to use his heal pulse on the human.

'_Here it is_.' The Combusken thought to himself as he found the sphere shaped capsule he was looking for.

He then pressed the button on the capsule and it shrank in his claws. He quickly placed it into his bag and made his way to the Gallade. The Combusken wondered on the Gallade's strength since he knew heal pulse. It was then that he noticed the look in the eyes of the Zorua as she looked at the humans then at the Gallade. When she looked at the humans there was anger in her eyes, too much anger to have come simply because of the humans desire to capture her. Yet when her gaze turned to the Gallade her expression became one of confusion. Though it really wasn't any of his business, the Combusken still had a little curiosity about that what that behavior could mean. The Combusken went over to the Zorua to see if she was ready to go home.

"The Combusken… did… this…" The Gallade heard the human say just barely.

The Gallade carefully placed his human on the floor. Then got up and looked at the Combusken talking to the Zorua. With every moment that passed his anger grew. The Gallade started walking towards the two. Thoughts of the possible violence that the Combusken may have done to his human ran through the Gallade's mind. His insatiable desire to punish the Combusken for harming his human grew with every step that he took. Then when he looked at the Zorua, he thought he will question her after he was done dealing with the Combusken.

"How exactly did you find them?" The Gallade demanded fighting back his urge to attack.

"Find who?" The Combusken nonchalantly asked.

"YOU KNOW DAMN WELL WHO I MEAN!" The enraged Gallade roared.

The Combusken looked at the Gallade then at the human on the floor. The Combusken wondered if the Gallade had used telepathy on the human to get information. The Combusken then looked at the Zorua; she was frightened by the fury displayed in the Gallade's eyes, all for the sake of the humans. Out of one mess and into another, thought the Combusken. Maybe, he thought, maybe I can use his loyalty to force him to stay in his ball. Hopefully he is not too simple minded in that enraged state he is in, he thought.

"Oh I just happen to have come across them." Said the Combusken.

"Were they already knocked out when you found them?"

"Maybe"

"ANSWER ME!"

"If I don't?"

"Don't toy with me; I'll rip you to shreds if you don't tell me the truth."

"Scary, sounds like the rage one has when someone has harmed his mate."

"WHY, YOU! This is my human. I have vowed to protect him with my life."

"Seems like you can't keep your vows."

"Don't play games with me! Now did you cause my human's unconsciousness or not?!"

"So what if I did?"

"How can you be such a wicked Pokémon?"

"So just because _your_ human appears to be the victim,_ I'm_ automatically the criminal? You don't even know the full story, yet you're already jumping to conclusions."

"_Did_ you, or did you _not_ cause him harm?"

"ANSWER ME!" The Gallade angrily demanded.

Seeing as the Gallade was too stubborn to look at the situation through the Combusken's perspective, the Combusken thought he didn't really have much of a choice. With the anger that the Gallade was channeling, odds were that reason was beyond the Gallade's mental reach. Whatever the Combusken's answer, the Gallade was going to attack possibly even the Zorua as well and the Combusken knew it as well did the Zorua. However, the Combusken already had an idea of how to deal with the Gallade should he really attack. So the Combusken attempted to answer.

"I didn't c-"

"LIER!" The Gallade interrupted as he blasted forward with a Giga impact.

"Move!" The Combusken urged the Zorua as he shoved her as far as he could from the attack.

There was a loud crash and a dust cloud burst out. The Zorua was limping away from the dust cloud and tried to take cover under the nearby vegetation as she panted and panted every step of the way. She didn't bother to try and masquerade as a different Pokémon or as a human. The Gallade was more focused on the Combusken to even notice the Zorua's retreat. Under the shawl of the shrubs, she took careful aim at the Gallade. Out of the Zorua's arsenal the only attack that would be the most effective on the Gallade, would be her shadow ball attack. Now she had to choose the right time to fire it, with the damage she sustained from the Giga impact, she could only fire off one dark colored sphere of spiritually condensed energy.

"Too slow you stuck-up punk!" taunted the Combusken.

"I'LL CUT YOU TO RIBBONS!" The Gallade bellowed.

"You couldn't cut butter with those dull sticks!" The Combusken mocked as the Gallade simply roared at the remark.

The Zorua thought that the Combusken was out of his mind for continuing to anger the Gallade, with every insult he threw at him. The extended elbow of the Gallade began to glow a whitish purple and he swung it at the Combusken. The Combusken bent backwards avoiding it feeling nothing but the air of the force that came for the Gallade's swing. The Combusken kept on bending backwards as he brought his legs upward, doing a backflip. As his legs came up he was able to land a double kick on the bottom of the Gallade's chin catching him by surprise. The attack knocked the Gallade back as the Combusken moved back to put some distance between them. As the Gallade regained his battle stance, the Combusken lowered his.

"Done already? What happened to your vows you were boasting about earlier?" The Combusken criticized.

The offence reignited the Gallade's rage and he charged forward. The Gallade got ready to use a close combat, ignoring the recoil of dropped defenses. The Combusken used quick attack to evade the relentless attack making it seem as though the Gallade was purposely missing. It was then that the Zorua understood what the Combusken was up to. From the moment the Gallade had begun to interrogate the Combusken, he was already losing. Ordinary, Gallade are supposed to be precise attackers, maybe a little savage in their attacks, but precise nonetheless. From the start, the Gallade's attacks seemed rather sloppy to the Zorua. With each insult the attacks became stronger but at the cost of precision. The Zorua pondered if that was the Combusken's plan to counter a type disadvantage.

Just as the Gallade's close combat stopped, the Combusken shoved the Gallade back with a quick attack. The Gallade rushed over to the Combusken and tried to land two non-move specific punches. The Combusken saw them coming, but wondered if the Zorua would lend some help as he caught both punches in his claws or if she had already made her escape. The Combusken pretended to struggle holding the punches even shaking his wings to simulate a limit of his strength. All just to convince the Gallade into holding his position. The Combusken was not stronger than the Gallade, however the Combusken wasn't trying to make this a battle of power. He was really just making an opening as a way to test a compatibility.

For a moment the Zorua didn't understand why he didn't bother to dodge them, but then she saw her chance. She quickly focused energy into a ball and condensed it full of spiritual energy coloring it a blackish purple, then hurled it at the busy Gallade. The Combusken saw the shadow ball glide through the air into his direction as he seemingly, was slowly being overpowered by the Gallade.

"Where's that cockiness now?"

"You really… should be more… focused on fighting; you're about… to lose." The Combusken grunted.

The Gallade was confused by the Combusken's remark, enough that the Combusken threw the Gallade's arms to the sides. The Combusken then used quick attack to shove him backwards. As the Gallade tried to regain his balance, the Combusken hurried over with a double kick to the Gallade's abdomen, sending the dazed Gallade into the shadow ball. Both the Zorua and the Combusken knew that it wasn't enough to finish off the psychic fighter. The Combusken then put his claw into his bag as he rushed over to the stunned opponent. The Gallade wanted no part of what the Combusken was about to do and in a last ditch effort, brought his extended elbow to the Combusken. The Combusken pulled out his claw having found what he was looking for and intercepted the attack with his other claw. He grabbed the forearm of the humanoid Pokémon with his left claw and a red and white ball grew in size in his right claw. He jostled the capsule into the Gallade's abdomen and he was instantly shrouded in a bright light, before getting suck into the ball. Once in, a simple button press minimized the ball to a smaller size. However, knowing that if he can come out of it on his own, he didn't want to risk having to deal with him a second time. Time to use the Gallade's loyalty to force him from coming back out. The Combusken walked over to the human that the Gallade was so protective of. Being careful of holding the small ball tightly in his claw in such a way that it won't slip, he got the sandwich and removed the plastic wrap. Then he quickly wrapped the Pokéball in the plastic wrap before the Gallade had the chance to escape from it.

"Let me out!" the Gallade demanded from the ball using telepathy to converse from within the ball.

"No. you will just want to fight again, and besides I want to leave already anyways." The Combusken responded.

"You need to be punished for what you have done."

"And just what would you rather the outcome be!? Have me surrender my free will to two strangers and allow them to take a Pokémon that didn't want any part in being captured? For all I know your humans could be the type that abuse Pokémon ether mentally, physically or otherwise! But you don't see it that way do you?"

"They aren't like that!"

"Seems like you are just opinionated, just so long as your own needs are met you are willing to ignore the evil that resides in a human heart! Or are you going to tell me that you have never came across a human that would take advantage of a Pokémon or even another human?"

"…My human isn't like that…"

"Are you his strongest Pokémon or his most valued?"

"…Both, but this isn't ABOUT ME!"

"Oh? Then what does he do with the others he has captured, but has no more room for?"

"Grr, he switches them by-"

"Have you ever seen them again? The ones that were not quite as strong as you, or the more common ones that can be found, how long has it been since you last seen them?"

"I… I don't know…"

All the while the Combusken was talking with the Gallade, the Combusken has been getting closer to the human. Now he was standing over him and was about to finish his conversation with the Gallade. With the doubts he placed with the Gallade he wondered if he would still try to attack out of vengeance.

"If I let you out what will you do?"

"I am still going to protect my Master."

"Just how loyal are you to him?"

"Enough to do anything he asks me to, that Includes fighting you. And what about your companion, Huh? She didn't help you much in fighting me!"

"That's because I didn't ask her to. I didn't really expect her to even stick around! Heck! If she had deserted me to just so she could have escaped, I would have been just fine with that!"

"You are stupid."

"And I have had enough of you. Since you are so loyal to your human then you really wouldn't want to do anything to hurt him, but I wonder what is more important to you the past or the here and now?"

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"You'll see."

The Combusken then grabbed the human by the neck lifting his head up about two feet off the ground. He forced the human's mouth open, and forced the human to swallow the tiny plastic wrapped Pokéball.

"Right now you have about two immediate courses of action. You can either stay there until your _master_ wakes up to decide how he is going to get you out, **OR** try to come out to punish me for my misbehaver, but I wonder if your master's body would be able to handle something of your body size tearing free form inside his stomach."

Hearing the twisted ultimatum the Gallade finally broke and stayed in silence hating the situation he was in. teleporting would have been a great solution, but he has forgotten how to. Perhaps even knowing how to teleport wouldn't be much help anyways as a Pokémon's moves don't work while they are still in their ball. So the Gallade just took his defeat in a hushed sorrow all the while his pride diminished and crumbled away.

Having been rid of the troublesome Gallade, the Combusken wanted revenge for having to deal with two humans, and a Gallade. He remembered that the Gallade's apparent human was carrying several evolutionary stones. He took the human's bag and started searching through its contents and grabbed the first stone he felt, and stuffed it into his bag as well as a yellow spray type medicine even though he didn't really know how exactly to use it and an oddly shaped Pokéball. The Gallade would have attempted to scold the Combusken for pilfering, but knew his words would fall on deaf ears, so to speak. Unable to deal with anything else the Combusken may do, the Gallade cut the telepathy connection and focused it on his human so the moment he awoke, he could inform him of his gastrointestinal 'situation'. While in his ball he had plenty of time to think about what the Combusken had said. He never really argued with Matthew about anything, but as the words finally sunk in he began to wonder if that was just because Matthew tended to be bias with him for being the strongest of his team. He wondered how much of his care and affection was true and how much was of his idolization of superiority. After becoming bewildered from all the troubling thoughts he then decided to confront his trainer about some of the points the Combusken had brought up after he could be extracted from his master's belly.

The Combusken took his leave and went over to where the shadow ball came from. He came to a bush and searched in it for a while. He found the Zorua hiding underneath the bush.

"Are you Ok?" the Combusken asked.

"I think I hurt my ankle." She responded.

"Was it the Giga impact?"

"I think so."

"Do you live around here?"

"In a cave near here."

"You should head home then." He said as he started to leave.

"Wait!" she cried out as she saw him start leave.

"I don't think I make it home by myself." She said

"How is that my problem?"

"Hey I helped you out with the Gallade!"

"I wouldn't have had to deal with him or the humans if it wasn't for you."

"What so you would have just let me to fend for myself against them and whatever other Pokémon they still had to use?"

"You could have left while I was dealing with the humans. I wouldn't mind if you did."

"I heard what you said to the Gallade. And what kind of answer is that?! I couldn't forgive myself if I did that. What kind of Pokémon would I be if I used you then ditched you like some apple core?"

"You're not going to let this go are you?"

"No I'm not!"

"_Stubborn little adorable tyke._" The Combusken thought to himself.

"Alright, come here." Said the Combusken as he scooped her up and began to look at her ankles trying to find the hurt one.

"So which one hurts?"

"This one." She said as she lifted her upper left paw.

"Hmm… I take a look at it as soon as I bring you home, after which I really must be going, deal?"

"Sure"

The Zorua directed the Combusken as best she could with her right paw. The Combusken ran with her directions avoiding other Pokémon and anything that might trip him. After all the excitement that had happened, the Zorua soon became drowsy and her eyes became heavy. She fought it back as much as she could until the Combusken could return her to her dwelling. It didn't really help that he was carrying her in a rather comfortable position. She was facing the sky and her body seemed to fit just right on one of his wings. Her head was resting on the bend of his elbow. She let out a small yawn as they came closer to her home. His feathers felt soft and warm, only adding to her drowsiness. Maybe because he had bathe himself earlier, but the wind resistance seemed to be lower than he remembered which helped his stamina. She was losing her battle with her lethargy and the Combusken took notice. He needed her awake so he could be done with this entire unintended escapade. He decided on doing something rude if only to lightly scare her awake. He stopped and threw her in the air directly above him. For a second she didn't notice, then when she reached the climax of the throw, her eyes slightly opened. As she began to fall, her eyes popped opened as she let out a shriek while she began to do what some call air dancing or as it's more commonly known, flailing. She tried to twist and turn in the air, in an attempt to land on her paws. She ended up getting caught by the Combusken as she almost hit the ground. His sixth sense triggered but he ignored it already knowing that he deserved what was going to happen.

"YOU JERK!" the Zorua yelled as she raked her little claws on his face.

"What was that for!" she demanded now more awake.

"Kind of hard to bring you home if you fall asleep before I even know where it is." He answered, holding back the urge acknowledge the stinging pain in his face.

She took a look around of the area, taking in the layout of the trees, the patterns of the grass on the ground, and the flowers growing about, even sniffing the air. All while still on the Combusken's wing.

"We are almost there. Just a little further in that direction." She said pointing near the southwest.

Off went the Combusken in the Zorua's specified direction. Before long, the Zorua told him to stop in front of hammock of trees with a bush at its center. He looked around at the sight before him trying to find a cave or hole in the ground. It just looked like an odd grouping of trees with a bush in the center so he began to wonder if her dwelling may be somewhere else. The only other notable land formation was a large pile of rocks that were laying on a hill, the size of a Pokémon Center.

"Raphe, Can you keep a secret?"

"Sure"

"See the bush?"

"Yeah"

"Lift the ground under it."

He laid her down and proceeded to do as she told him to. As he got next to the bush to attempt to lift the ground, it began to look weird. It was perfect, too perfect. No missing leaves, not a nibble to be found on a single leaf due to insect hunger. It doesn't even have a notable scent of its own. Out of curiosity, he got a leaf and rubbed it in his claws. It felt similar to paper. This bush was artificial. The Combusken then wandered why, but it was answered when the ground could be lifted relatively easily, exposing a tunnel. The ground that held the fake bush acted like a lid and on the bottom of the 'lid' was a rope. He looked to the Zorua.

"That's the front door. It's not that far of a drop."

The Combusken grabbed the Zorua and hopped into the hole. They fell for about two seconds before landing on some soft dirt cushioning the landing. They proceeded on to follow the tunnel. The tunnel wasn't too dark so the Combusken didn't really have trouble walking inside. He wandered how it was lightly illumined being this far underground. After a short walk they came to a large well lit cavity that contained what the Combusken assumed to be the Zorua's living quarters.

"Oh Home sweet, Home."

"How do you keep this place illuminated?" asked the Combusken.

"My little secret!"

The Combusken dropped the subject as he set her down. She took a seat on a patch of straw and the Combusken did as he said he would. He started to look at her paw, though she was a little nervous fearing the pain. He bent her paw in its natural direction, she didn't flinch. Carefully and gingerly, he tried to bend it in any unnatural direction, still she didn't flinch. Then he ran his claws down on her paw. Near the bottom of it, she tried to pull it back.

"Hurts?" he asked her.

"Yes"

He tapped the pad of her paw. She quickly took it back.

"I don't think it's broke or sprained. It may just be bruised, nothing serious." He said as he pulled out the yellow spray that he swiped earlier.

"What are you doing?"

"Bruises heal on their own, but maybe this will speed up the process." He said as he pulled the part that contained the medicine since he never really bothered to understand how spray mechanisms work.

With that part detached, he looked at the amount still in. There wasn't much, only enough for one use. He poured the liquid on the Zorua's paw. She let out a little yelp when the medicine soaked her injury. The Combusken proceeded to gingerly rub it into the affected areas. After a short while she didn't feel any more pain as the medicine did its job.

"Get some rest and you should feel back to normal soon enough. I guess I'm done here. I got to get going. Bye" he said as he made it to the opening of the tunnel.

"Wait! Will I see you again?" she asked.

"If I'm in the area again, I'll stop on by. I'll remember the front door. Take care." He said without looking back, instead waving as he left.

With that he went on his way, leaving Suzanne in the safety of her home. It didn't take long before she began to fall asleep. One final yawn and she dosed off. At the end of the tunnel as he was using the rope to climb to the top, he began to wonder how a quadrupedal Pokémon could come in and out of such an entrance. Growing bored with the pace of just climbing one step at a time. He planted his feet on the wall and kicked himself off of the wall while still hanging on to the rope. He got to the other wall and did the same. The same zig zagging technique from last night. At the top when he pushed the lid he saw how she could use this type of entrance in a practical way. The walls were actually a spiral incline. Just how long did it take her to make this? Once out, he took out his map and tried to find his location. When he did, he held the map accordingly and tried to find the straightest path to the area where he placed the Y shaped stick. After some consideration, he found the desired path. Before leaving, he marked his map of his current location. And then he was off on his way.

**(Luis's pov)**

I found nothing and nothing interesting has happened for the last fifteen minutes so I'm heading back. (REALLY?)

**(Combusken's pov)**

As I returned to the spot where I had placed the stick it appeared that I was the first on to arrive. I sat under the tree and closed my eyes and tried to keep an empty mind while I waited for them to return. Who said meditation was only for psychics? I don't know why but for some reason I kept getting an ominous feeling that a group of unfriendly if familiar Pokémon were making their way towards this direction. Was it the humans' Pokémon from earlier? No. They are still too far off for me to really get a good sensation of their being. While in a meditative state my sixth sense gets a considerably wider range, but because I'm not a psychic I can't get as detailed information as they seem to. However it's still a useful aspect to have as part of my arsenal. Hmm I think there are around four to maybe five possibly more. They scattered? Must have been some young ones playing nearby. Now there are three arriving. One has me at a type disadvantage, the other I have at a type disadvantage the last turned in the other direction and was gone. The first two continued to close in on my general direction. Then another came into range. This one I didn't have an advantage over, but either did it. As they came closer into range they became more familiar. A minute passed and they were visible, but I didn't want to stop the meditative state just yet. When these three came into ear shot, I picked up a faint trace in the far distance. Way too far to be a normal Pokémon or human. The trace seemed to have the characteristics of a group containing either a large group of low strength beings, or a medium sized group of adequate combatants. There is no way that it could be a legendary, what business could one possibly have in this forest. Whatever the case, that far off group seemed to be the source of the ominous sensation. The nearby three were so close that I was having trouble focusing on the far off group. I opened my eyes.

"Raphe!" I think it was Lisa that called out.

I just waved my wing at her as I turned over to look at them. They were carrying four apples. Seems like I didn't have to bring any apples with me then. Luis was empty handed. When they came over I wasn't expecting to receive one, so it came as a bit of a surprise to have one offered to me and by Lisa. Daisy was staring me down as I took it. I set it to my side and took out the four apples I had in my bag and offered them. They all took one except Daisy how wanted to take two leaving me with my one apple. Lisa however convinced her to give one back. While Daisy did so, she tossed it out of my reach. I just rolled my eyes at the action as I bit into my apple. Just what could possibly be her problem? Lisa Glared at her and whispered something into her ear. Daisy just responded with a 'no way'. After that we ate our apples without anything worth mentioning occurring. While they were talking among themselves, I couldn't shake the feeling that the large group was making its way towards our location and that concerned me. It was then that I remembered that Lisa being a psychic type, might try to read into my thoughts and feelings. As a countermeasure, I began to or at least try to think of three unrelated events in tandem with the thought of the far off group to try and keep her confused about what I was really thinking about. The thought of the shiny metal desires in people and Pokémon, what the Hoenn region might be like, and what kind of Pokémon evolve with the stone I happened to have in my possession.

I think it might be working as Lisa looked at me for a second then went back to eating her apple. The ominous sense continued to plague me as I finished my apple. I ate it slower then I normally would have so by the time I was done so was everyone with their second apple.

"Is everybody done?" asked Luis.

"Yea" answered both Daisy and Lisa. I just nodded.

"Anyone remember the direction we were going?" asked Luis.

I took a look at the stick's shadow and pulled out my map. After determining the direction of north and south, I held the map with its compass rose pointing in the appropriate directions to where I was facing. I located us about a mile away from the spot that Luis had pointed to.

"This way" I told everyone

"You sure?" asked Daisy but I didn't answer.

"He is the one with a map, Daisy" Lisa said

"So? Guys always say they know where they are going even if they are in an unfamiliar place. And won't even stop to ask for directions." Daisy responded.

"Come on let's just go along with it for now." Lisa said

"Fine, but we better not get lost for this." Daisy said

Throughout their little discussion I continued to detect the presence from earlier getting closer and closer. For now I decided for keep it to myself, should it only be a couple of hormonally stressed out Pokémon, or some migrating herd. After a while Lisa and Daisy stopped talking with each other. Daisy started talking with Luis about some random things, I think those topics concerned their village. Lisa got closer to me and I guess tried to strike up another telepathic conversation.

"Raphe?" she asked me through a telepathic connection.

"Yes" I answered using that connection.

"I'm sorry for how Daisy treats you."

"Why is that?"

"Well she isn't really that rude to new Pokémon she meets."

"Is that right? So how does she treat others then?"

"She typically tries to talk to them without the rudeness she shows you."

"So why am I different?"

"It's because you happen to be a fire type and a fight type."

"So what, does she hate dual types?"

"No, she just doesn't like the type combination of fire and fight."

"Why is that?"

"It's better if you get her to tell you."

"Why can't you tell me?"

"Well that's her business. It wouldn't be right if I go around telling everyone without her knowing."

"I guess"

"Here's the apple she uh, took." She said as she levitated the apple to me.

"Thanks" I said as I placed it in my bag, she nodded with a smile.

"So why are you so friendly?"

"If I could help it, I would rather be nice to everyone than end up having enemies."

"You know it's impossible to be friends with everyone you come across?"

"I know there are bound to be some that I won't be able to fully coexist with, but I rather try to."

"I see."

I could still detect the large group getting closer. It can't be a coincidence could it? If it keeps up any longer I might have to inform the others. It has been about fifteen minutes and it was still heading this way only now the presence felt like it was hiding nearby. From the proximity I think I could feel eight Pokémon.

"Everyone, I think we are being followed." I said out loud.

"Yea right." Daisy snorted.

"I believe him" Said Luis.

"Oh come on." Said Daisy.

"I don't have any reason to doubt him." Said Lisa

"Ok, so where's is your proof?" Daisy said in an annoyed tone.

I waited for a moment, it felt like the longest moment of my life. Uncertainty causing me to be more critical of the surroundings. Though my eyes and sense of hearing where telling me that nothing was wrong, I felt as though the four of us had been found and were being stalked. Our immediate area began to feel heavy and too quiet for it to be a normal moment in a forest.

"I'm waiting." Said an impatient Daisy.

"He's right, there is something watching us and it's nearby. I think there are more than five of them." Answered Lisa as Daisy looked at her in disbelief.

My sixth sense just went nuts and I saw why. There was a sort of a colorful beam heading right for us. I was glad that we were somewhat huddled together. I used quick attack to tackle everyone to the floor.

"GET YOUR CLAWS OFF ME!" demanded Daisy, but she quickly lost her attitude when she saw why I did what I did.

Behind me, nearly hitting my back, flew the signal beam and it hit the ground right where Daisy was standing. For a moment it seemed to have melted into ground, then it exploded sending a small dust cloud into the air and small rocks flying in different directions. As soon as the explosion subsided, we all stood on edge and got a little closer to each other. We heard shifting in the trees and in the bushes. Then my sixth sense triggered again. I looked behind me and saw another beam. It was big enough that it was going to hit all of us. I put my claw on Lisa's shoulder and my other claw on Luis and Daisy, and shoved them as hard as I could out of the way. I got hit with the signal beam right on my chest and I was sent flying away. As I flew I saw that Daisy was pulled away by some strings, and Luis was hit and sent flying way with a beam made of dark ribbons, and I suppose that Lisa evaded the oncoming attacks that were going her way.

My back crashed against a tree trunk and I could hear a strong stream nearby. The familiar dark purple flames began to overtake my vision. I could start to hear a faint creepy laughter slowly get louder and louder. I saw two Toxicroak come out of the bushes with anger in their eyes, but they weren't the ones laughing. I tried to stay awake and fight but the laughter continued to get louder and louder as the dark purple flames began to overtake my vision. Then the laughter stopped and my eyesight was gone so I closed my eyes. NO! I yelled at myself. I still had a debt that I still haven't replayed to Luis! As much as it bugged me. I can't give up now. I forced myself to open my eyes.

The two Toxicroak were gone and I was sitting in some bushes while Luis was fighting two different looking Toxicroak. The area was different in that the trees don't quite match up with what I remember and the sound of the stream was gone. As I looked in my bag, I was missing my two ropes.

**(3****rd**** person pov) -A few minutes earlier-**

Two Toxicroak were making their way to the knocked out Combusken.

"Well that was easier than we thought." One said out loud.

"Don't let your guard down. He may be down but he is still alive." Said the second.

"But that just means that he won't be able to fight back, Cyanide."

"Kio, only because you're new, I was ordered to look after you while you got used to this style of living. If you continue to ignore what I'm supposed to be teaching you, you won't last long." Said Cyanide.

"You can be so boring at times." Said Kio.

"You can't take everything as a game. There are things that will seem doll even though they are important."

The Combusken began to stand and the two Toxicroak observed him carefully more Cyanide then Kio. The Combusken opened his eyes but there was something different. They weren't the usual red iris on black. They were bright yellow snake-like irises on white. The Toxicroak saw his eyes but thought nothing of it as this was the first time they had seen a Combusken.

"There you see? Now he's up and we have to fight him." Said Cyanide

"I don't know Cyanide, he seems kind of scary."

"We have to bring him down now, you didn't the first time around so now we have to use eight Pokémon just to bring down four now put up and shut up." Cyanide said to Kio as he glared in frustration.

Cyanide rush over to the Combusken with his arm glowing as he was getting a brick break ready. The Combusken didn't even bother to look at Cyanide, his gaze was fixed on Kio. Cyanide brought his arm down with enough force to demolish a boulder. The Combusken caught his blow without taking his eyes off of Kio. He then began to squeeze on Cyanide's wrist crushing the tendons in the wrist, Cyanide could only shout in pain, unable to get free. There was a popping sound coming from the wrist. The Combusken pulled Cyanide in front of him and kicked him in the abdomen with such a force Cyanide felt some of his lower ribs shatter like glass in his chest. The Combusken let go of Cyanide's wrist and kicked him again sending him back a few feet. Cyanide was writhing on the dirt floor in agony holding on to his wrist and abdomen as he cursed about thinking it would lessen the pain. The Combusken kept on a slow pace towards Kio oblivious to the suffering Cyanide.

Kio was froze in fear. For as long as he had known Cyanide, he was never shown weakness to anyone. Kio wasn't sure what to do, Cyanide was far stronger then Kio there was hardly any comparison to be made in their strength. If Cyanide's strength could be ranked as an ant hill, then Kio's strength would be ranked as the ant living in the ant hill.

"Your fight is with me!" Cyanide roared as he fired out a beam made of dark ribbons. Dark pulse.

The Combusken still ignored Cyanide, swatting the beam away as if it were a ball of paper. It landed on a tree trunk blasting a hole straight through it and into the ground. Doubts were slowly creeping into Cyanide's mind if he could even protect Kio enough to give him the chance to run. Cyanide fired a focus blast to the Combusken. He held out his claw and caught it still staring at Kio. The focus blast was crushed in the Combusken's claw as he still continued onward to Kio. Kio stayed motionless as the Combusken continued on walking to his direction. There weren't any sign of any emotion on the Combusken's face, it was the same as when he got up.

"Kio Get Out Of Here!" Yelled Cyanide as he charged to the Combusken with another brick break.

Cyanide was fully aware that it was a useless attack, but he at least wanted to give Kio the opportunity to run. The Combusken grabbed Cyanide's arm stopping the brick break. Instead of crushing it like his other arm, the Combusken pulled it in front of him while kicking the Toxicroak's leg, tripping him. He was dragged by his arm to the front of the Combusken. He lifted his foot and while pulling on the arm, he stomped on the Toxicroak's head making a small crater underneath. Then he lifted the Toxicroak still by the arm and was able to kick the side of his face, forcing the Toxicroak to land behind the Combusken. Cyanide's efforts did nothing to slow down or even catch the attention of the Combusken as he continued his slow pace. Out of desperation Cyanide used what little energy he had left and made a grab for the Combusken's leg.

"Snap out of it Kio… run…" Cyanide said with his last breaths.

At this, the Combusken simply forced his foot to the face of the Toxicroak who bent backwards at the kick, finally fainting having lost all determination to the damages he sustained leaving the Combusken free to focus on Kio. Even as he had laid waste to Cyanide his expression remained unchanged, no joy, sadness, anger, fear, or even remorse just the same deadpan look. Kio didn't know what was frightening him the most, seeing Cyanide get easily battered around or the fact that the Combusken never took his scrutiny off of him.

"S**h**a**l**l **I** m**a**k**e** i**t** a**n** a**r**t **w**h**e**n **I** r**i**p **o**u**t** y**o**u**r** h**e**a**r**t **a**n**d** t**e**a**r** i**t** a**p**a**r**t? **M**a**k**e **y**o**u** q**u**i**v**e**r** w**h**e**n** I **a**t**t**a**c**k **y**o**u**r **l**i**v**e**r**, o**r** s**m**a**s**h **m**y **k**n**e**e**s** i**n** t**o** y**o**u**r** k**i**d**n**e**y**s?" It spoke in the most bizarre Kio had ever heard as it sounded like, more than one Pokémon speaking at once.

Hearing that voice he finally turned and tried to run away, though it may have already been too late.

"**D**o**n**'t **r**u**n**, y**o**u'**l**l **r**u**i**n **t**h**e** f**u**n." It said already standing in Kio's way.

Kio backed up a step and the Combusken took a step closer. Kio took another and the Combusken threw a hard punch to Kio's chest, sending him flying against a tree. Adrenalin suppressing the pain and his awareness to his many broken bones. Before he hit the ground the Combusken grabbed Kio's neck, keeping him suspended over the ground. Kio began to cry over how helpless he had been.

"Please, let me go." He wept.

Kio looked at the Combusken's eyes and still couldn't find any trace of mortality.

"**I**f **y**o**u **w**o**n'**t **m**a**k**e** m**e **f**e**e**l **a**l**i**v**e, **t**h**e**n **d**i**e**." It said as it raised its claw.

Kio closed his eyes dreading every moment. He felt a slight breeze on his face. Kio opened his eyes. He saw the claw almost touch his forehead. Something had gotten the attention of the Combusken as he was actually looking away from Kio.

"**B**e**t**t**e**r **p**r**e**y?" Asked the Combusken.

He let go of Kio who ran to Cyanide's side, wondering what to do to help him. He suddenly felt something wrap around his neck. As he looked to see what it was, he was pull away from Cyanide and back into the Combusken's grip. He was using a white rope of some kind. He got another rope and manually wrapped it on Cyanide's neck. Then he tied the two ropes together and threw both Kio and Cyanide over the river. The ropes got caught on a tree branch and they were hanging over the fast moving water. The Combusken shot a small fire ball at the two Toxicroak. That fire ball was unlike any Kio has seen before. Of all the colors of fire he has seen, not one of them were purple on the outside and black at the center, like this one. The odd fire ball hit the ropes and began to burn before the Combusken finally left. The branch started cracking by the weight of the two Pokémon. Kio struggled to get free from the rope but couldn't make any notable progress. The branch broke off, unable to support the weight any more. They fell and were washed away by the current of the river. There was something in the water that made Kio lose all hope of surviving. Out in the distance was a school of ravenous Carvanha swimming towards Kio and Cyanide.

**-Back in the present in the bushes-**

The Combusken watched Luis fight the two Toxicroak. He realized that Luis was having trouble fighting them off. He stayed in the bushes thinking that maybe he didn't need his help. Luis was using flamethrower to keep one busy while he tried to focus on one. And for a while it was working, until one of the Toxicroak grabbed Luis from behind. Then the second came with a Giga impact as Luis was held in place. That was all that he needed to see. This could be his chance to pay back his unwanted debt. The Combusken rushed in with a quick attack and hit the side of the Toxicroak changing the direction of the attack. The Combusken used bulk up as the Toxicroak crushed into a rock, injuring its shoulder. Another quick attack and he was knocked out. The other Toxicroak was still holding on to Luis. The Combusken rushed over to Luis and hopped in the air. Luis had an idea of what he was up to and ducked at the last moment. The Combusken landed a drop kick styled double kick right on this Toxicroak's face, releasing Luis.

Once free, Luis a flamethrower on the dazed Toxicroak. The Combusken used quick attack on the Toxicroak back sending him to Luis again. Luis used flame wheel on the Toxicroak's face finally knocking him out.

"Where are the others?" asked Luis

"Don't know." Said the Combusken.

"They couldn't have gotten far lets go and look for Lisa and Daisy." Said the Combusken.

"We better split up so we can cover more ground if one of us finds them will use a fire attack at the sky to signal ok?" Stated Luis

"Yea" said the Combusken, as both went their separate ways.

The Combusken soon heard some explosions and decided on following the sound.

**-With Daisy-**

Daisy was getting pulled around by a string shot that came from two Ariados; in the height of the trees. Not wanting to get toyed with any longer she grabbed the string and shot an ice beam at it freezing it stiff. She hit the brittle string shattering it with ease. No longer supported by the string, she fell down. Being a high jumping rodent, falling from such a height wasn't much of an issue. She stuck her landing not feeling much of an impact as she was well used to such altitude. The Ariados fallowed Daisy when she started running to where she believed Lisa's position was. The Ariados fired off signal beams aimed at her. She jumped avoiding them and fired an ice beam at the floor. It made an obstruction of ice on the ground. The Ariados didn't seem to be slowed by it. She shot another ice beam on the floor trying to cover a larger area. They still were unaffected by it. The Ariados were using string shot to help them move out of the way. She ended up at a stream and the Ariados were a few meters away. They made their way to her. Not really knowing what to do, she began an onslaught of ice beams at the Ariados. They kept dodging every single one of them only making the ground became covered with ice. They tried to grab her with more string shots to which she froze with more ice beams. Soon the ground surrounding her became covered in slippery ice. At this the Ariados took to the trees and fired more signal beams at her. She jumped to the other side of the frozen floor. The Ariados jumped in after her. She saw that coming and shot weaker ice beams aimed at their mouths momentarily shutting their mandibles. Without use of their mandibles, they couldn't use most of their attacks. Before they could have used their only attack that didn't involve their mandibles Daisy shot another ice beam at their legs surprising them. They fell on the slippery floor and struggled trying to get back up.

She saw her chance. She got close and used dizzy punch on both of them sending both sliding in a confused spin right into the river.

"Just what I was going for!" She said to herself, not really expecting that to happen and off she went to find Lisa.

**-With Lisa-**

Lisa was nearly breathless from her battle with two Drapion. Since they were poison types, she found it odd that her preferred use of confusion wasn't affecting them in the least. They shot sludge bombs at her. She twirled and danced out of the way making the attacks seem as though they didn't want to touch her. It irritated the Drapion that this Kirlia was so difficult to hit. If she didn't dance out of the way she would teleport. However they saw she was losing her energy to continue, evident in her heavy breathing and large amounts of sweat trickling down her white face. It was only a matter of time before she would tire herself out. They shot a dark pulse at her and she soon realized why her psychic type attack did nothing to them. It wasn't a coincidence that they also knew crunch. No they weren't just poison types they were also dark types. She teleported out of the way and put more distance between her and the Drapion.

"_What should I do now_?" she thought to herself.

The Drapion slowly made their way towards her and she tried to keep her distance. The teleportation only sapped more of her precious remaining energy making her breathe harder.

"_Maybe I use confusion indirectly at them."_ She thought to herself.

She used calm mind to help intensify what little energy she had. The Drapion shot more sludge bombs at her. Again she revolved around them, trying to make the best use of her energy. She concentrated on the ground under the smaller of the two Drapion. She used confusion to make two slabs of earth clap tightly on the Drapion severely injuring the Drapion. However Lisa got an excruciating head pain as a recoil from having exhausted more of her energy.

"Hahaha… I like them feisty. Makes it that more satisfying to see them suffer from my poison." Said the larger Drapion as the Kirlia held her head from the pain.

A beam of frigid energy shot through air and hit the Drapion's leg as he started walking towards the Kirlia. Both the Kirlia and the Drapion looked at the direction from where the beam came from. There was a bunny hopping towards them, Daisy.

"You ok?" Daisy asked Lisa.

"I've been better." Lisa answered.

"You see? I told you it was worth faking a loss just to get her to find her little friend. Oh and she looks wiped out too, the poor dear. Hahaha" Everyone looked over and saw two Ariados come from the same direction Daisy had approached from.

"I thought I gotten rid of you. How did you find me?" she asked them.

"You can't always count on dumb luck, and by the way you didn't get all the strings." Said an Ariados.

He tugged on what seemed like nothing and Daisy felt something small pull on her fur. She look down barely seeing a very fine thread on her tan fluffy fur.

"Now then let's finish this."

The eyes of one of the Ariados began to glow and a bluish outline appeared on Daisy. She was lifted into the air and thrown to Lisa. Then the same bluish outline appeared on Lisa and both of the girls were stuck in a psychic hold. The Ariados who was using the psychic motioned for the others. As the girls groaned out of both pain and desperation, the Drapion and other Ariados began to charge their beams. The Drapion was aiming a dark pulse and the Ariados its signal beam. Unable to move or fight back both girls closed their eyes in defeat as they fired.

**That's it for this chapter. Sorry for the long wait. My life has gone hectic with things out of my control. Anyways, I will remove the added content when I update this story again. Before I forget I won't be accepting OC's, that one I just couldn't pass up. Well blazikenXlucario I hope I got your Zorua the way you imaged her. **

**I don't own Pokémon. That's Nintendo, Gamefreak and other respective companies. **


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